Sons of The Paper Shikigami (Revised)
by AvilianT
Summary: Konan Yutaka, former member of the notorious organization the Akatsuki, lives in the middle of the woods with her two twin sons Kuro and Xentall. But after a series of misfortunes they are plunged into another Shinobi World War. -This is the same story from my old account, AvilianZulu. I lost the password so decided to make a new account and post the same story.-
1. Chapter 1

A

Naruto

Fan fiction

Chapter 01

Enter: the Sons of The Paper Shikigami!

A slow wind breezing through the thick forest, trees lazily swaying, leaves rustling. Then a branch snaps, followed with a loud thud. A woman stands on a nearby branch, sneering.

"I told you not to follow me Kuro! Find your own branch next time, your making me look bad!"

"I'm sorry brother; I just wanted us to succeed together." Kuro stands up shyly, brushing himself off. The woman laughs and Kuro stands perfectly still out of fear, "I think she found us Xentall!" Xentall stands up quickly and takes out a kunai.

"Back to back Kuro, don't let her flank us!" Xentall orders, Kuro also taking out a kunai and pressing his back up against his brother's, "If you hadn't followed me on that branch we would've had more time to come up with a plan of attack!" They slowly do a three-sixty, scanning their surroundings.

"You boys are so clumsy. You need to practice on your balance." Xentall throws his kunai in the direction he thinks the voice is. The woman looks down to see the kunai imbedded into the branch between her feet, "Nice reflexes, but you missed." Paper spears fly out of the tree and Xentall grabs the shirt collar of Kuro and jumps to the side, throwing him on the ground as he lands.

"Thank you for that. I wasn't paying attention" Kuro says, standing up slowly.

"Well start paying attention; I won't be saving you every time you zone out!"

"I wasn't zoning out, they came from my blind spot! I didn't see them!"

"Learn to use your other senses!" More spears fly out and they jump in different directions. The woman then appears behind Xentall and swings a large paper spear downward. He unsheathes a short sword from the back of his hip and blocks the blow. He holds it there, forcing all of his weight upward.

"It looks like we're at a stalemate, Xen." The woman says, gripping the paper spear with both hands and forcing it downward. Xentall falls to one knee and glares the woman in the eyes.

"That's what you think!" Kuro then jumps in the air and does hand seals.

"Paper Style: Sheering Rain no Jutsu!" Kuro then holds out his left arm and it turns to paper. Then the sheets of paper fly at the woman. She disconnects with Xentall and jumps to the side, making the paper hit the ground with force; creating a small crater. Xentall jumps in the other direction, doing hands seals while still holding his sword.

"Dark Release: Shadow Blade Jutsu!" Xentall holds out his sword as black lighting engulfs the blade. He starts to pant as Kuro appears next to him, the paper sheets slowly forming his arm again. Xentall runs at the woman, wielding his sword. Kuro does more hand seals and aims both of his arms at the women.

"Paper Style: Origami Prison no Jutsu!" Both of his arms and shoulders turn to hundreds of sheets of paper and fly at her. She tries to jump but a paper clone of Kuro holds her in place. The paper then grabs on to both her arms and legs and form chains connecting to the nearby trees. Xentall lets out a scream as he swings his sword at her. She stares at him intensely and then a paper clone jumps in front of him, taking the blow for her. The black lightning engulfs the clone as Xentall splits it down the middle. The woman looks at him with a smirk as the lightning dissipates and Xentall's breathing gets heavier.

"That took a lot of chakra didn't it Xen?" She breaks free from her prison and kicks Xentall in the chest, sending him flying back towards Kuro.

"You weren't really going to kill her were you?" He asks as he helps Xentall up.

"Of course I wouldn't, but I kept swinging because I knew she'd block it somehow!" Xentall says, yanking his arm out of Kuro's grasp. Xentall's breathing starts to slow but then his legs start to shake, "That last jutsu took a lot of chakra. I barely have enough to perform one more Shadow Blade." The woman slowly starts to free herself from Kuro's Origami Prison and Kuro starts to freak out.

"She's breaking free, what do we do Xen?" Kuro asks, his voice trembling.

"We fight! I may not have much chakra left but I still got my sword. And you've barely used up your chakra, keep throwing Ninjutsus at her!" The woman then breaks free and sprints at them. Kuro takes a step back and starts to cry.

"I don't want to die!" He says, blocking his face with his arms. Xentall raises his sword and runs at her. She grabs his wrist, making him drop the sword. She then lifts him off the ground and spins him on his side. She then let's go, does a three-sixty and kicks him in the stomach, sending him flying at a tree. Kuro screams in fear as the woman runs at him. He closes his eyes and waits for the hit.

He waits for what seems like forever then opens his eyes and sees the woman standing there, aiming a kunai at his face.

"I just killed you, Kuro. You have to learn to defend yourself; don't run away from a fight, you'll just-

"End up tired. I know, sorry mother." Kuro says, putting his head down in shame as he wipes his tears away. The woman then walks towards Xentall who's slowly getting up from the ground.

"And you young man, you need to learn your limits." Xentall looks at her with distain.

"A good ninja has no limits! They keep fighting until they win or die!" He stands up and leans against the tree, "And we would've won if cry baby over there would just do something other than stand in the background and wet his pants!"

"That was one time and you know it Xen!"

"So what if it was one time? You still did it!"

"At least I'm not trying to actually kill our mother!"

"If you don't have the guts to at least try and kill her then how are you going to actually kill someone if your life depends on it? You're nothing but a big cry baby and a coward!" Xentall yells. Kuro looks down slightly, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Stop it, the both of you! We're done training for the day. Let's head home and get some rest for tomorrow." She yells, grabbing Xentall by the hand and walking him by Kuro. She reaches a hand out to him and he takes it sheepishly.

The three of them walk through the woods in silence, listening to the music of nature. Xentall starts to lag behind but still holding onto his mother's hand as his left leg starts to hurt badly.

"Are you o.k. Xen?" Kuro asks, looking over his shoulder.

"No, I think my leg is broken because I actually got hit during training today!"

"She would've hit me too!"

"No, because she knows you're weak and that you would cry! You cry about everything, even that time when a leaf fell on your head!"

"I told you, I thought it was a spider!"

"Anyone with a brain would've known it was a leaf!"

"Oh yeah well at least I use my brain instead of just charging into battle!" Their mother than slams her foot on the ground, making the earth shake slightly. Xentall and Kuro close their mouths with wide eyes and bodies filled to the brim with fear. She glares at them both for a second and then continues walking, pulling them along. They continue to walk in silence and Xentall looks at the sky through the cracks of the trees, his long, blue hair lazily flowing in the wind. His clothes worn out and torn from consistent use. He looks himself over to find any blood. His black jacket looks like it always does, his white shirt still has that hole on the bottom left but it looks a little bigger. His black pants hang over his ankles and his sandals still look brand new.

"What do you boys want for dinner?"

"I don't care." Xentall says with a sigh. Kuro then speaks up; explaining what he wants and Xentall looks him over for any sign of blood. His red hair is short in the back and long in the front, covering his left eye. His dark blue, long sleeved shirt has no imperfections in it. His white shorts are still torn and he was wraps going from the tips of his shins to his ankles. His mother laughs. They're obviously talking about something else other than food.

"Do you like the sound of that Xen?" She looks down at him with a soft, warm smile and Xentall can't help but smile back.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Of course Xentall didn't know what they were talking about but he wasn't concerned with what they were going to eat. He looks up at his mother and examines her face. Her blue hair isn't in a bun like it usually is. It's down like Xentall's only straighter. She still has her origami flower pinned to her hair. She never takes it off unless she's going to bed. Her clothes always look new. She's wearing the standard dark green flak jacket that all Jōnin wear. Under that is a black, long-sleeved shirt and gloves with a metal cover on the top of the hand. She's wearing Black shorts and thigh-high sandals that are dark blue.

They arrive at a very large and thick tree. Their mother puts a hand on it and paper sheets start to move away, creating an entrance. Xentall and Kuro run inside and jump onto the couch that's in the middle of the large room. Their mother steps inside; the paper sheets forming together to cover up the hole.

"Hey mom, why do we have to live in the forest? Why can't we just live in a village?" Kuro asks, hanging off the side of the couch. Xentall sighs in frustration.

"Why do you always ask that? You already know the answer!"

"Then why don't you tell me?" Kuro yells, getting in Xentall's face and crossing his arms.

"Because we're not welcome in most villages you big dummy!"

"Mom told you to stop calling me that!" Kuro tackles Xentall to the ground and starts to swing his fists but Xentall pushes him off and sits on his chest, pinning his arms above his head. Kuro starts to cry and their mother snatches Xentall by the back of his shirt collar and lifts him up.

"What have I told you two about fighting inside?" She yells, her voice slightly echoing through the hallow tree. Xentall drops his head in shame and Kuro wipes his tears.

"Sorry mother." Kuro says as he dusts himself off. Their mother nods at Kuro and he walks off to his bed. She glares at Xentall who still has his head down.

"I'm sorry too mother." She nods and lets him go. He sighs and walks to the other side of the tree where his bed is. He lays down and faces the wall. Their mother sighs and goes to the kitchen and starts cooking their dinner.

A couple of hours pass and they're all sitting at the dinner table eating ramen with chicken rice. Xentall is eating silently while his mother and Kuro are talking.

"So mom, I saw the cutest white rabbit today during training. Do you think we can find it and keep it as a pet?" Kuro asks while scooping up some of his chicken rice with his chopsticks.

"How about this; if you see it again and you're able to catch without hurting it, you can keep it?" Kuro raises his arms and cheers with food in his mouth. Xentall sighs as he finishes his ramen and starts to eat his rice.

"Xen, sweetie is something wrong?" Xentall puts his chopsticks down and swallows.

"I agree with Kuro for once. Why can't we live in a village? The Village Hidden in The Leaf is just a couple of miles from here."

"Xen, we just can't live in a village, especially in the Hidden Leaf Village."

"But why can't we? Kuro and I can enter their Ninja Academy and learn from more than one ninja."

"Xen we-

"I'm tired of living in a tree made of paper in the middle of a forest!"

"Xen if you would-

"What is wrong with living in a village-?

"Xen, that is ENOUGH!" Their mother slams her hand on the table, the impact is loud and it echoes through the tree. Xentall slouches in his seat, putting his head down and Kuro cowers a little, tears welling up in his eyes. She sighs and rubs her forehead, "Xen, we can't live in the villages because I did terrible things in the past that they still hold me accountable for.

"You mean when you were in the Akatsuki?" Kuro asks, leaning forward in curiosity. Their mother glances at a closet with a clear cover that has all the head bands and rings of all the Akatsuki members, including her own. She sighs and looks back at Xentall.

"I did terrible things. The Hidden Leaf Village is still recovering from what we did." Xentall sighs and leans his chin on his elbow up on the table.

"You mean you and father? Why don't you ever talk about him? Don't you think we're old enough now to know what he did?" Their mother stands up quickly and Kuro cowers again. Only this time tears well up in her eyes.

"Not today Xen, I'm not in the mood." She walks to the other side of the tree where there is a separate room. She walks through the opening and shuts the door. Kuro glares at Xentall and he has his head down.

"Nice going Xen, you upset mom again!" He takes the dishes to the sink and starts cleaning them. Xentall stands up and walks back to his bed. He lays down and stares at the wall. Kuro turns off the sink and walks to his bed and lays down, "Good night Xen."

"Good night Kuro." Xentall yawns as he pulls the covers over himself.

Xentall Slowly opens his eyes and sits up stretching. He looks around but it's a bit foggy. He squints to see better but the fog just intensifies. He stands up and when he takes a deep breath through his nose he smells smoke. He runs into his mother's room and she's still sound asleep.

"Mother, I smell smoke!" She slowly sits up. She yawns and opens her eyes, "Mom, get up, I think the tree is on fire!" Her eyes widen and she puts on her flak jacket and runs out of her room. The whole tree is filled with smoke and it's starting to get really hot. Xentall is by Kuro's bed waking him up and helping him put his sandals on.

"Xentall and Kuro pack your things!" Their mother commands. She grabs a small bag and breaks the glass cabinet where the headbands and rings of the Akatsuki are. She stuffs them in her bag and swings it over her shoulder. She looks back and sees Xentall sheathing his short-sword and Kuro putting on his backpack, "Let's go!" They all run out and Xentall looks back to see that the top is engulfed with fire.

"Who could've done this?" Xentall asks as they jump through the trees. Their mother remains quite and then she's blasted away. Xentall and Kuro land on a branch and watch in horror as their mother falls to the ground, "Mother!"

"Mom are you o.k.?" Kuro yells as tears roll down his cheeks. Then six men appear around her laughing. She slowly starts to get up but one kicks her back down.

"Well boys, I told you it was her. The infamous Paper Shikigami of the Akatsuki. Konan Yutaka." They all laugh as she looks up in the tree and sees her sons hiding.

"Who are you?" She asks as she tries to get up.

"We're concerned citizens of the Hidden Leaf." He lifts his foot from her back and she instantly jumps and does hand seals.

"Shikigami Dance!" Her entire body turns to thousands of sheets of paper and they swirl around them.

"Looks like we have a fight on our hands, boys!" The man yells as he takes out a kunai, "Hotake, you know what to do!" A taller but skinnier man laughs and does hand seals.

"Toad Style: Oil Sludge Jutsu!" The man spits tons of oil all around the swirling paper twister and it starts to slow down. Xentall unsheathes his short-sword and starts to do hand seals. The paper twister stops and Konan appears out of the twister, only showing her bust. She's panting and is covered in oil.

"How did you know?" She asks, trying to form her arms so she can defend herself.

"A little birdy told me." The man says, walking up to her and aiming his kunai at her, "There is a big bounty on your head Konan. And it doesn't matter if you're turned in dead or alive. And I'd rather have a corpse then a fighting prisoner." He punches her in the nose and she grunts. She lifts her head slowly and her nose is bleeding profusely. The man grabs a fist full of her hair and drags her out of the paper twister, throwing her onto the ground. They all start to laugh and Kuro covers his mouth and cries.

"Kuro, do your Origami Prison Jutsu!" Xentall commands as he is still doing hand seals.

"What are you doing?" Kuro asks with a shaky voice. Xentall doesn't answer and Kuro looks back down at the men who are still laughing. They start to kick and punch Konan and Xentall jumps out of the tree.

"Dark Release: Shadow Blade Jutsu!" The men look up and Xentall's blade is engulfed with black lightning. He swings his blade down and makes contact with the tall and skinny man's shoulder. Xentall lets out a scream as he swings down and cuts him in half, from his left shoulder, to his right hip. The lightning intensifies and strikes another man, sending him flying towards a tree and as he hits it he explodes. The men jump back from Konan, taking out kunais.

"Xen, what were you thinking?" Xentall looks down to see his mother broken on the ground and blood coming out of her mouth as well as most of her body. Xentall knees down, sticking his sword into the ground to support him, "Runaway while you can son!" She yells, choking on her own blood. Kuro then jumps out of the trees and starts to do hand seals.

"Not this time!" The man yells and he throws his kunai at Kuro. It hits him in the shoulder and he stops in midair and falls to the ground.

"Kuro!" Konan yells, holding out her hand, "My baby boy, no!" Xentall looks over his shoulder to see what happened but he's then punched in the back of the head and he goes flying a couple of feet and rolls to a stop. The man who threw the kunai places a foot on Xentall's head and laughs.

"What was your plan after you killed two of my men? Kill the rest of us? You two are nothing but small children." Two men appear behind Kuro and one grabs his head and lifts it up to face Xentall, "So I'm going to make you watch tough guy." Xentall tries to stand up but the man just grabs his hair and lifts his head up to make him face Kuro.

"Xen, I'm scared." Kuro says as tears roll down his cheeks like two waterfalls. One of the men behind him takes out a kunai and places it over Kuro's throat.

"NO!" Konan yells from behind them. Xentall can hear her crying and just stares at Kuro. Kuro starts to cry hysterically and all the men laugh.

"Let him go!" Xentall yells. He throws the man off of him and throws his short-sword at the man holding the kunai on Kuro's throat. It hits him in the head and the other three men stand there in awe. Xentall holds his right eye in pain and screams loudly. Kuro does the same only he's holding his left eye. Konan lays there in silence as her sons scream in pain. Xentall falls to his knees and one of the men slowly walks towards him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He yells as he hits the side of Xentall's head. Xentall looks up and the man gasps, "What the hell is wrong with your eye?" The man yells. Xentall's right eye is bleeding and ripples slowly form around his pupil. The man looks behind his back and sees Kuro's left eye is bleeding and also has the ripples, "They have the Rinnegan!" The man yells as he jumps back next to his comrades.

"That's impossible-

"I saw it!" The man yells. Xentall slowly stands up and limps over to Kuro who is shaking and still crying.

"Kuro, are you o.k.?" He knees down and Kuro slowly looks up. Xentall's eyes widen as he sees his brother's left eye does have the Rinnegan.

"Xen, your eye, it has the Rinnegan." Kuro reaches out to touch it but Xentall stops him.

"So does yours." They both look towards their mother who isn't moving anymore, "Mom?" Xentall and Kuro run towards their mother but their stopped but a kunai that lands in front of them.

"Just because you two have the Rinnegan doesn't change a thing!" The man yells as he does hand seals, "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" The man spits a ball of fire towards them and Xentall jumps in front of Kuro and holds his arms out to block his brother. The fire ball then stops and Xentall starts to feel rejuvenated. The fire ball gets smaller and smaller until it completely dissipates. The men stand there; one of them looks completely terrified.

"That's one of the Six Paths! Ninjutsu won't do a thing against them!" One of the men yells as he backs up.

"Kuro go check on mom, I'll deal with them." Xentall says in a stone cold voice. Kuro nods and runs towards Konan.

"Stop him!" A really tall and buff man runs at Kuro but Xentall intercepts him and jumps up to meet his level then grabs his neck. He slams the man down into the ground and straightens back up. Kuro slides to Konan's side and shakes her; trying to wake her up.

"None of you are touching them ever again!" Xentall runs at them doing hand seals, "You'll never touch anyone else ever again!" He jumps up and his hand is engulfed in black fire, "Dark Release: Chakra Leech Jutsu!" He flies down and grabs another man by the head and the black flames engulf him. He starts to look old and weak until he looks really skinny and you can see all of his bones. Then Xentall disconnects his grip and the man falls to the ground face first.

"Just because you have the Rinnegan doesn't mean you're stronger than me boy!" He runs at Xentall holding his kunai and swings. Xentall grabs his wrist and holds it tightly until he feels it snap. The man grunts in pain and swings his other fist. He hits Xentall on the side of the head, "I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to kill your brother and then your mother!" Xentall starts to laugh and the man looks at him confused.

"You're going to kill me?" His laugh gets loud and more maniacal, "YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME?" Xentall grabs him by the neck and throws him at a tree, "YOU'RE NOT KILLING ANYONE EVER AGAIN! IF ANYONE IS GETTING KILLED IT'LL BE YOU!" Xentall laughs even louder and Kuro stares at him with wide eyes trembling lips. Konan starts to wake up and Kuro cradles her.

Xentall does hand seals and his hand is engulfed in black fire again. He runs at the man and grabs his face. The man starts to struggle but as he gets skinnier his movements start to slow down. After a couple of seconds he stops moving and Xentall lets go.

"Xen, she's awake." Kuro says with a shaky tone. Xentall limps over to Konan and falls to his knees on the opposite side of her. She places a hand on Xentall's cheek and smiles.

"You're so strong. I'm proud of you." Xentall says nothing and she places her other hand on Kuro's cheek, "And you, looks like you stopped crying. You were so brave back there." Her arms then go limp and she passes out again.

"We have to get her help." Kuro says, swinging one of her arms around his shoulder, "Help me." Xentall lifts her other arm around his shoulder and they start to walk.

"Where are we going to go Kuro?"

"We're going to the Hidden Leaf Village." They jump to a nearby branch and start to jump towards the village.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 02

Enrollment to Become a Ninja!

"Boys, we must stop and rest. You've been carrying me for hours." Konan says between breaths. Her left eye is swollen and bloody. Her forehead has dried blood on it as well as around her mouth. Kuro falls to one knee and clutches his shoulder in pain as Xentall lays Konan down.

"Are you o.k. Kuro?" Xentall asks running over to him. Kuro releases his grasp to show fresh blood all over his hand. Kuro starts to fall back and Xentall catches him, "Kuro!" He lays him down next to Konan and runs both hands through his hair in desperation.

"Water, we need water Xen." Konan says with a tired breath. Xentall nods and jumps up a tree and starts to look for a lake or river.

"Mom, are we going to be o.k.?" Kuro asks, clutching his shoulder to keep pressure. Konan looks at him with sadness in her eyes. Kuro's lower lip is quivering and he's trying to choke down a torrent of tears.

"Yes sweetie, Xen will come back with water and we'll fix your shoulder and be on our way again." Konan tries to smile without hurting herself. Xentall appears in front of them again with a canteen of water. He pours some water over Kuro's shoulder and then wraps it up as best he can with the medical supplies in their bags.

"Thank you Xen." Kuro says as he gets up slowly. Xentall helps his mother drink and then he uses the rest of the water to wash off her face.

"You need some water too sweetie." Konan says, gently placing a hand on his cheek. She stares into his eye, filled with great pride but also an immense amount of fear. She can't believe the Rinnegan was passed down from father to sons. She didn't know it to be hereditary. Xentall removes her hand and continues to clean her off.

"How close are we to the village?" Xentall asks. Kuro takes a deep breath and jumps all the way to the top of the nearest tree. He perches himself on the tip and scans the whole forest.

"We're almost there, a couple more miles and we'll be at their gates!" Kuro jumps back down and picks up his mother, wrapping her arm around his shoulders again, "Do you think they'll let us in?" Xentall picks up his mother's other arm and they jump up to a branch and slowly continue on their path.

"They might not let us live in their village but they can't let three people die at their gates. They'll at least take us in and fix us up." They land on a branch and Kuro falls on his knees again, "Let's switch sides." Xentall and Kuro quickly switch sides before their mother could fall.

"That's much better." They slowly stand up and continue on their path. An hour passes by and they stop on a branch and Xentall is shaking in pain.

"Sweetie, are you o.k.?" Xentall doesn't say anything and he tries to continue but pain shoots through his body and he falls off the branch, "Xentall!" Konan yells. Kuro jumps down and lays his mother against the tree. He runs to Xentall's side who is trying to get up.

"You're too weak to move. Stay still." Xentall pushes him away and slowly stands up.

"No, we have to get to the Hidden Leaf Village!" He grabs Konan's arm and Kuro follows.

"Sweetie, you must rest. Your body is exhausted and in shock." Konan says, trying to persuade Kuro to stop him. Xentall ignores her and continues to move.

"I can see the gates!" Kuro yells. They speed up and enter the clearing to the gate. Xentall can feel the pain intensifying, "Help us, please!" Kuro yells. Xentall cringes in agonizing pain as he starts to lose his grip on his mother's arm, "Please open the gates!" Xentall finally collapses and is unconscious. Then Konan also loses her strength and Kuro drops to one knee due to her weight. He lays her down and sees the gate opening. He tries to drag his mom closer but falls due to exhaustion, "Please—help us." Kuro says with a short breath and then the world starts to spin and everything goes black.

Xentall slowly opens his eyes to a very bright, white light. At first he thinks he's dead and then he sees a shadow standing over him. His vision starts to clear up and a Medical Ninja is shining a light into his eyes. The person starts to speak and Xentall cocks his head slightly, straining himself to hear.

"Can you hear me child?" The man asks. He takes the light away and Xentall looks around to see a small white room. There is a woman who has her hands over his chest. They're glowing green and Xentall can feel his chakra slowly coming back, "Child, can you hear me?" Xentall stares the man in the eyes and tries to sit up but the man stops him, "Remain still. You're chakra is very weak and your body is much too damaged to move due to extended stress." Xentall looks around some more and starts to worry.

"Where's my mom?" Xentall tries to get up and the man tries to stop him again but Xentall starts to struggle, "Where's my brother?" He demands as he tries to push to man off of him.

"Kid, you have to remain still during treatment!" The man says, trying to keep him down. The woman backs away and runs towards the door.

"Someone go get Sakura!" The woman yells through the open door. Xentall starts to fight with the man.

"Where did you take them?" He yells. His eye starts to bleed again and the man goes flying away and through the wall to the other room. Xentall runs out of his room, shoving the woman aside and sending her flying down the hall, "Mother! Kuro! Where are you?" Xentall yells. He starts to run down the hall but a kunai flies past his face.

"Remain still kid! Your family is safe and we can take you to them." Xentall looks behind his shoulder and sees a tall, beautiful woman with flowing pink hair. Xentall backs up slowly as she approaches, "Now calm down and I'll take you to your brother." She grabs his arm and he starts to struggle, "Stop fussing!"

"No need to be so forceful with the child, Sakura."

"Sorry Lord Hokage." Xentall turns around and sees him. His eyes widen with rage.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The name rolls off Xentall's tongue like vinegar. He yanks himself free from Sakura's grasp and runs at him, "I'll kill you!" He throws his fist but Naruto catches it with a smile.

"Calm down kid, I'll take you to your brother." He grips his arm and leads him away, "Clean up this mess will you Sakura?" She bows and then starts to order people around.

Xentall lags behind him. The man who defeated his father is walking right in front of him! He grips his fists tightly until they felt like they were going to break. He stares at the back of his head and then notices the scroll that is attached to the back of his waist.

"Is that a summoning contract for Mount Myōboku?" Naruto stops in his tracks and turns around.

"Yes, you know of this place?" He knees down to meet Xentall's eyes. The fact that he is looking at him makes Xentall sick but his curiosity is greater than his hatred.

"I've heard of it. I've also heard the sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf is a Toad Sage. That he has mastered Senjutsu." Naruto laughs.

"That's right, I am. You know a lot of stuff, huh?"

"My brother and I have always wanted to become sages ever since we learned of summoning contracts through libraries and other forms of information.

"Would you like to sign the contract?" He starts to take out the scroll but Xentall shakes his head.

"Kuro and I are partial to the legend of Ryūchi Cave and the Colossal Snakes." Naruto smirks and puts his scroll away, "So unless you happen to have a summoning contract from Ryūchi Cave, I'll pass." Naruto stands back up and continues to lead him down the hall.

"How about this, if you promise me to not go breaking anymore walls or throwing more of my Medical Ninjas, I'll try to find you a summoning contract for the snakes." He opens the door and Xentall lets out a low laugh.

"Whatever." He walks into the room and shuts the door. He hears Naruto walk away and then runs to Kuro's bedside, "Kuro, are you awake?" A groan escapes Kuro's lips and he turns over onto his back.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Xentall places a hand on his good shoulder and smiles.

"I'm fine, how is your shoulder?" Kuro sits up and lets out a big sigh.

"It's better, they sealed up the wound but the pain is still there. How's mom?"

"I don't know, I hope she's o.k." Xentall runs his hand through his thick, blue hair and lets out a sigh, "She's really tough. I'm sure she's fine." Kuro sighs, his face bandaged up. "Naruto lead me to you." Kuro jolts in his bed slightly and Xentall can see his muscles tense, "He has a summoning contract."

"Was it a summoning contract from Ryūchi Cave?" He says with enthusiasm.

"No you idiot, he's a Toad Sage! It was a summoning contract from Mount Myōboku." Kuro slouches back in his bed and sighs, "He did make a stupid promise to find us one though. But I think he's just trying to be nice." Xentall lets out a shaky sigh and sits there in silence. Kuro lays back down and rests his head on the pillow.

"Do you think they're going to kick us out once we've healed?"

"Maybe they will. Maybe they won't."

Naruto walks through a door that has two guards on each side of it. He closes it behind him and sits next to Konan who is starting to wake up.

"I am graced with the great Hokage's presence." Konan says sarcastically. She slowly sits up; her head bandaged and another covering her left eye. Naruto smirks and Konan doesn't look at him, just looks down at her bandaged hands.

"No need to sound so condescending." Naruto says as he rubs the back of his neck, "So you have kids! How old are they?"

"They're both ten."

"Twins huh? That's weird they don't look alike."

"Not all twins look alike." Her voice rises in a tone of anger.

"Is something wrong Konan?" Naruto leans forward in his chair and glares at her.

"What will you do to us once we've healed? Will you kick us back out into the world? Will you kill us?" Konan looks up and meets Naruto's gaze.

"You can stay you know? You're always welcome in the Land of Fire."

"Are we? Six of your ninjas did this to my sons and me! If I even had a fraction of my strength I would have my hands around your throat!" Naruto gives her a concerned look and rubs his chin, "And if we do decide to stay, what will happen to us? Can you guarantee that we'll be welcomed? The scars of what the Akatsuki did are still fresh. I can hear the work of construction out the window. Can you promise me that everyone in this village will forgive me? Can you promise that my past sins will not hurt my children?" Konan glares at him, her stare intense and Naruto can feel the burn of it. He then smiles and places a hand on her shoulder gently.

"I promise on behalf of our Sensei, you and your sons will come to no harm within these walls. To ensure protection, I'm willing to make you a Jōnin and to enroll your kids into The Academy. When they graduate they'll be moved to your squad." Naruto can feel the muscles in Konan's shoulder ease up and she looks back down at her hands.

"What do you mean _when _they graduate?" She looks back up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"If what your son Kuro says is true then they are already trained in combat and don't even have to go to The Academy. Graduation is next week so I just figured I would put them in so they could try and make some friends. That is—if you want to stay?" He cocks his head with a cheesy grin and Konan can't help but smile back.

"Thank you Naruto. You have no idea of the fear I felt. My sons carried me all the way here, while they were injured as well. Thank you Naruto, thank you." Naruto nods and stands up.

"I'll do anything for a sibling student." He walks out and Konan lays down in her bed, relaxed and at peace.

Naruto reenters the room where Xentall and Kuro are. He sees that the bed is empty and the window is open. He runs at the window and looks around.

"Xentall, Kuro!" He runs out the door and looks down the hall and points at the two ninjas guarding Konan's room, "You two, gather more ninjas and search the village for two little boys! They're the sons of Konan! They have the Rinnegan so they'll be easy to spot! Go, now!" The two ninjas nod and run out of the hospital.

Xentall and Kuro have their clothes back on. The hospital saw fit to clean and stich them up. They're walking down a long street with shops and restaurants on each side.

"Is this their market?" Kuro asks, looking around, "Not that big is it?"

"This is probably one of many. They wouldn't have just one street dedicated to shopping and eating. Unless if they're that poor." Xentall is also looking around with a smirk, "Our dad really did a number on this village didn't he?" He puts his hands behind his head and starts to laugh.

"Will you keep it down? If people found out who are father was they'll kill us!" Kuro looks over his shoulder and sees some construction workers glaring at them."

"They can try!" He continues to laugh and then four kids run into them and bump Kuro to the ground. He screams in pain and clutches his shoulder, "Hey watch it! My brother is hurt!"

"Shut up!" One of the kids yells. They all stop and turn around. Xentall notices that they're all wearing green goggles on their foreheads, "You can't tell us what to do!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Xentall yells as he helps Kuro up.

"Calm down Xen, I'm fine." He looks over to the kids with a smile, "Sorry about my brother. He's very hotheaded. So you guys are in The Academy, huh?"

"That's right." The lead kid grips his goggles with pride and flashes a big grin, "I'm Eiji Momoiji!" He stands over us with pride and it makes Xentall sick. He has short orange hair and green eyes.

"Think you're better than us do you?" Xentall comes face to face with Eiji and glares at him.

"I don't see a headband on your forehead. Not even Academy goggles! You're power is below mine!" Xentall clutches his fists then one kid cowers back.

"Eiji, their eyes, look at their eyes!"

"What about them, Naoko?"

"They have the Rinnegan! My father told me about the man who destroyed our village, he had the Rinnegan too!" They all back up besides Eiji who glares at Xentall with pure hatred.

"So your father was Pein! Oh you're going to get it!" He swings his fist but Xentall ducks and sweeps his feet around and makes him trip. Everyone else decides to help him and they jump on Xentall. They start to kick and punch him and Kuro tries to stop them but Eiji punches him to the ground, "We'll kill you for what your father did to our village!" They're then pushed off Xentall and a tall, thin ninja picks him up off the ground.

"What are you four doing out of The Academy? Get back to school now!"

"Yes Shikamaru Sensei! Eiji says as they all bow then run away. Shikamaru helps Kuro up and they start to walk back towards the hospital, Xentall still in his arms knocked out.

"You two shouldn't have left the hospital. You're both still injured." Kuro remains silent and Xentall starts to groan, "Finally awake I see." Xentall looks up at the man and flails his arms and legs.

"Let go of me!" Shikamaru drops him and Xentall stands up straight, "I don't need your help!"

"Whatever." He sighs, as he continues to lead them back to the Hospital, "Your mother is very worried about you two." They both remain silent and then they hear their names being yelled.

"Xentall and Kuro Yutaka, you are in so much trouble!" They lift their heads up slowly to see their mother running towards them. She then knees down and hugs them both, "You two had me so worried!" She grabs both of their ears and pulls slightly. They both scream in pain and clutch her arms, "What in the world were you thinking, going out into the Village all alone?"

"We wanted to see what it looked like before we left!" Xentall says as he takes a deep breath.

"We didn't mean to make you worried! We're sorry!" Kuro says, trying to pull away. Konan lets go and hugs them again.

"We're not leaving. We're staying here and you two are going into The Academy." Xentall exchanges looks of fear but also contempt with his brother. They weren't going to have to live outside in the woods anymore. No more hunting for food, no more fear of rouge ninjas jumping on them, "Come on, Lord Hokage gave us a home nearby the library. Maybe you two can finally return those scrolls you stole awhile back." Xentall frowns at that realization. He doesn't want to return those scrolls. He hasn't even finished reading on how to perfect his Kenjutsu; the art of the sword. They start to walk down the road, their heads still down. The image of that kid, Eiji, burns itself into Xentall's thoughts. He grits his teeth at the thought of him and his friends beating him down. Xentall clutches his fists in pure rage.

"I'm going to go to The Academy and beat that punk into the ground!" Konan looks down at him with a frown.

"Already made some friends?" Kuro sighs and Konan looks over to him, "Something you have to say?"

"Some kids pushed me down and Xentall saw fit to defend me. They jumped him and then that ninja saved him, Shikamaru Sensei." Konan raises her eyebrows. She looks back over to Xentall who is still clutching his fists.

"Home many were there?" She asks Xentall in a teasing tone.

"Four." Xentall clutches his fists tighter and looks away, "If only I had healed faster I would have killed them." Konan's heart races and she gives Xentall a concerned look.

"You don't mean that do you? They were just kids after all."

"No, I would've killed them. After what happened in the forest I will kill anyone who hurts my family. I'll kill anyone who taunts my name. I'll kill anyone who mocks my father." Konan looks down at her son with pure terror. Her son is turning into someone she knows all too well.

"Anything else happen when you two ran off?" She asks them, trying to shake that disturbing thought out of her head. Xentall shakes his head and she then stops in front of a small complex. It's a U shaped building with three levels of rooms, "This is where we'll be living." They walk up to the third floor and Konan opens a room named, C3. She places all their belongings on the table and she then turns on the light, "It's smaller than our tree but it has three rooms with beds, a working bathroom and kitchen. We'll make a good home here." Xentall grabs his bag and walks into the room to the left. He slides the door shut and she sighs.

"He'll be better tomorrow. Xentall is just frustrated he got beat by those Academy Kids." Kuro says as he grabs his stuff and walks into the room to the right and slides the door shut. Konan lets out another heavy sigh and grabs her belongings.

"What am I going to do with you two?" She asks herself as she walks into the room further down the hall between Xentall and Kuro's room, "Tomorrow we enroll you two into The Academy and start anew." She slides the door shut and just falls into her bed, exhausted.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 03

The Secret Scroll!

"Yutaka, Kuro, age ten, son of Konan and Nagato Yutaka." A man says as he looks at a sheet of paper. Another man grips his fist tightly as he says Kuro's parents' names. Kuro shifts his weight from one leg to the other, "Your mother is currently enrolling to be a Jōnin. Your brother is also applying for The Academy. So tell us, why do you want to enroll?"

"I want to learn as much as possible; to hone my abilities." The man with the paper nods and the other man shakes his head and laughs.

"That will be all Mr. Yutaka. You may leave." Kuro bows slightly and walks out of the room, "Send in your brother please." Kuro steps out of the room and Xentall stands.

"How'd it go?"

"One seems to be professional. The other man seems to hate me."

"Whatever. Wish me luck." Xentall steps into the room and walks in front of the table. The man with the papers shuffles a few papers and slides one out and clears his throat.

"Yutaka, Xentall, age ten, son of Konan and Nagato Yutaka." The other man glares at Xentall, "Why do you want to enroll in The Academy?" Xentall approaches the table and meets the other man face to face.

"Do we have a problem?" The man glares at him and Xentall glares back.

"Mr. Yutaka, please stand back!" The man with papers demands.

"Not until this guy tells me what his deal is with me and my brother!" The man stands up and moves closer until they're nose to nose.

"My problem is that Lord Hokage let criminals into this village; the same village that your bastard of a father and whore of a mother nearly destroyed." Xentall punches the man in the face, sending him backwards onto his chair and rolling into the wall behind him. The other man grabs Xentall and puts him in a hold before he could continue his attack.

"You take that back before I tear you in half!" He struggles in the man's grip and Kuro runs in to help.

"Calm yourself Mr. Yutaka before I have to take drastic measures!"

"I swear to god I'll kill you! Take it back now!" The man slowly stands up laughing.

"Is that the best you got kid?" The man walks over to him and punches Xentall in the stomach. Xentall takes a deep breath and starts to wheeze as the other man puts him on the ground and starts to yell at the man who hit him. Kuro helps Xentall up and they both walk out of the building and start to roam the village again.

"You have to learn to control yourself Xen. You just assaulted a higher up."

"He called mom a whore." Kuro's forehead creases. Xentall smiles knowing that Kuro is now feeling the anger he is feeling, "So where are we going?"

"We're going to a common ground where all of the other students from The Academy hang out."

"Good, maybe I can find that Momoiji kid and beat him within an inch of his pathetic life!" Kuro slaps the back of his head.

"We didn't come here for you to start fights around every corner! We have to be careful who we talk to and how! We don't want people to know who we are." Kuro looks over his shoulder to see if anyone is listening, "I know you are proud of who our father is. But these people hate him; we can't let the fact that we're his son's go public." A large man in an apron suddenly steps in their way with his arms crossed.

"So you are the boys my son was talking about!" Kuro looks up and frowns, "So it is true, sons of that Pain guy _have_ made it into our village!" The man grabs Kuro by the collar of his shirt and lifts him up, "Well I'm not going to let two little punks like you live in this village!" Other men start to surround them, wielding weapons such as pitchforks, pans, oars, shovels and hammers, "Your father destroyed our city! We won't let that happen again!"

"Please sir, we mean neither you nor this village any harm. We came to this village for protection and peace." Kuro grips the man's arms to try and make him release his grip. Xentall stands there with his fists clutched tightly, "Just out of curiosity, who is your son?"

"Eiji is my boy." Xentall's eyes widen and his heart flutters. He slowly reaches for his short sword but one of the other men surrounding them hits him in the back of the head with his shovel. Xentall crumbles to the ground and they start to hit and kick him.

"No, stop it! We don't want to fight you!" Eiji's father punches Kuro in the nose and drops him. Then him and the rest of the men jump on Kuro and start to beat him as well.

"What do you all think you are doing?" Someone yells as he starts to pull the men off of them. Kuro looks up to see Naruto pushing them all away, "Enough of this! They're just kids!"

"Lord Hokage, those kids are the sons of Pain! They have come here to destroy our village again! We won't let that happen!" The men cheer in agreement and Naruto puts up and hand seal and four shadow clones surround Kuro and Xentall.

"They are no threat to us. Now leave before I arrest you all for assault and disturbing the peace!" The men grunt as they walk away. The shadow clones disappear and Naruto helps Kuro up, "Are you o.k.?" Kuro pushes Naruto aside and crawls over to Xentall and shakes him.

"Xentall, are you o.k.?" Xentall lets out a hefty grunt as he slowly lifts himself up.

"We didn't need your help. Now they think we're weak!"

"Judging that this is your third day here and all three days you've been injured, I'd say you are pretty weak. By the way, I found you two to give you these." He holds out two green goggles and Kuro takes one, "I pulled some strings and got them to accept you as well Xentall. You have to control your temper." Xentall snatches the goggles out of his hands and puts it on his forehead.

"I don't need to control anything. You need to tell your Shinnobi to learn some manners." Xentall walks off and down the street. Kuro puts his goggles on his head and bows towards Naruto.

"Thank you Lord Hokage. When does class start?"

"In an hour, so come with me." A shadow clone walks past them carrying Xentall and Kuro follows behind chuckling to himself.

"Put me down!" Xentall yells as he thrashes in the grip of the shadow clone. The shadow clone puts him down then vanishes, "I can walk on my own!" Xentall dusts himself off and walks beside Kuro.

"You sure are a feisty one, huh?" Naruto says with a smile, "You'll fit in just fine at The Academy." He turns around a corner and The Academy is in sight. There are a bunch of people gathering around the entrance. They're talking to their kids and they see Naruto walking towards them, "Word travels fast." He wraps his arms around Xentall and Kuro's shoulders, holding them close as they continue to walk. Xentall's heart races as Naruto pulls him close. Although he has already helped his family many times before, he still loathes him.

The parents swarm them, protesting against Naruto. Naruto pushes them aside as gentle as he could while still trying to protect the boys. They finally make it into the building and he laughs.

"That was scary, huh boys?"

"No, I could've taken them all on."

"You sure are hardheaded." Xentall crosses his arms and Kuro laughs to himself again.

"Xen thinks he can take on anyone since the only real people he's fought is my mom and me." Naruto nods and leads them into a classroom where students are talking amongst themselves while they wait for their teacher.

Xentall looks around the room and smirks. There is a desk where he guesses the teacher sits at. A long chalkboard behind the teacher's desk, the seats where the students sit are like bleachers; each level gets higher until it reaches the windows that are half way up the wall. Naruto sits Xentall and Kuro in the back, directly under a window.

"I'll see you two later. I have a previous engagement concerning your mother. He walks out and the noise gets louder as the other students continue to talk. Both Xentall and Kuro slouch in their seats. A girl with long, red hair and green eyes walks in. Xentall sits up and he catches a glimpse of her. Their eyes make contact for a split second before Xentall looks away and leans back in his seat. He knows she's coming up to talk to them or do something. Xentall elbows Kuro as he slides the goggles over his eyes. Kuro does the same, catching on to hide their Rinnegan. The girl taps Xentall's shoulder and he looks at her.

"I'm Riu! Are you new?" She asks as she moves her hair behind her ear. Xentall blushes and is glad that the goggles can hide it.

"Yeah, I'm Xentall and this is my brother Kuro." Kuro raises a hand to say hi and she giggles.

"You know you don't have to put the goggles on, they're just a symbol of an Academy Student!" She lifts Xentall's goggles and before he could stop her or protest, the goggles are lifted and his Rinnegan is revealed. She gasps and covers her mouth with both hands, "You have the Rinnegan?" She yells in surprise. Some of the students stop their conversations and look in their direction while some change the subject and start to talk about them.

"Yes, we have the Rinnegan."

"_We_?" She asks with raised eyebrows. Xentall nudges Kuro and he lifts his goggles, showing his Rinnegan, "That is so cool! You guys share it?" Xentall shuffles in his seat. Riu frowns as she catches on that the subject makes him anxious, "I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just think it's cool. Now we have all three Eye Techniques in the class." She smiles and skips back down to the front and sits down next a short haired girl with a bow in it. Kuro taps Xentall's shoulder as he looks out the window.

"Hey Xen, I can see the library from here! You want to go and check it out?" Xentall squishes next to him and stares out the window.

"Maybe we can find scrolls on summoning!

"Maybe there'll be some on the Rinnegan too!" The look at each other with a smile, "Do you think anyone will notice us?" Kuro asks. Xentall looks around the classroom and shakes his head. He then opens the window and pushes Kuro through it, "I won't fit! It's too small!" Xentall punches him in the butt and he goes flying through it. Xentall then climbs through the window and Kuro grabs his arms.

"Pull harder!" Kuro places both feet on the wall to get better leverage and tugs with all of his might.

"Why are you so fat?"

"It's not fat its muscle! You should try getting some!" Xentall finally slips out and they fall onto the ground; Xentall landing on top of Kuro, "Nice work!" He helps him up and they run towards the library.

They burst through the door, scaring the librarian. Xentall and Kuro stand in awe as they look at all the shelves of scrolls. A short, pudgy woman with thick glasses approaches them.

"Hello and welcome to the Hidden Leaf Record Archives. How may I be of service today?"

"You wouldn't happen to have scrolls on Summoning Justus would you?" The woman cowers due to Xentall's blunt enthusiasm.

"All the scrolls you are looking for are on the second floor, towards the back where all the archaic scrolls are." Xentall runs past her, making her clutch the scrolls in her arms like her life depends on it. Kuro approaches her slowly.

"Where would scrolls on the Rinnegan be?" The librarian's shoulders relax as she knows the child in front of her isn't as fast as the other one.

"They are located in the Kekkei Genkai section of the library, which is right behind the front desk." She guides Kuro as they hear Xentall running up stairs.

"Kuro, there are so many scrolls on summoning! You have come up here when you find what you're looking for!" Xentall yells. Some other people are mumbling to themselves as they go back to reading. Kuro starts to take scrolls and books off of shelves and looks through them. Xentall can still be heard as he pulls scrolls and books off of shelves and lays them on the floor.

A few minutes pass and Kuro walks up stairs to find Xentall siting around mountains of scrolls and books. Kuro sits in front of him and lays down two scrolls and one thin book.

"This is all they had on the Rinnegan?" Xentall asks, putting the scroll he is currently reading onto the ground, "That seems a little pathetic." He then draws his attention back to his scroll and Kuro sighs.

"They don't even give detailed information. Just speculation and what they learned from fighting our father." Kuro picks up a scroll from one of Xentall's piles and starts to read, "What have you learned so far?"

"Nothing we didn't already know; a signature in blood and concentration."

"I don't suppose you found a Summoning Contract from Ryūchi Cave?" Kuro asks, still reading his scroll on different techniques to summoning.

"Nope, but I'm sure there is a scroll about them somewhere." Xentall closes his scroll and starts to look through his piles, "Found it!" He pulls a book out form the middle of the pile and it falls on him. Kuro takes the book from his hand while he digs himself out.

"Nice find. It has chapters for each contract! Kuro sits down while Xentall rummages through his piles for something else to read, "Xen, it says that there is a Summoning Contract in the library!" Xentall rips the book out of his hands and pulls it really close to his face.

"It says it's an ancient Summoning Contract held by Orochimaru when he attacked the village. It could be anywhere." He sighs as he throws the book away.

"Maybe they took it from him and put it in the Forbidden Library." Xentall looks at him with a raised eyebrow, "Thought that might peak your interest. The Forbidden Library is located behind this one." They both run out of their littered isle and down the stairs, "We'll be back shortly!" Kuro yells as they run out the door. They run behind the library and see a small shack with locks and paper seals all over the door, "That seems a bit ominous, huh?" He says with a slight chuckle.

"Great, how are we supposed to get in?" Xentall yells in a fit. Kuro walks up to the shack, rubbing his hands together. He then does hand seals and slams the ground in front of the shack, creating a large, deep hole.

"The real Forbidden Library is underground."

"How would you know that?" Xentall says as he takes a look down the hole.

"Because that's what I would do." He jumps down the hole and Xentall follows. Kuro lands in a hallway that is low lit with torches and Xentall lands behind him with a great thud. Kuro looks down the hallway in every direction and stands there for a moment.

"You have no idea where to go do you?" Xentall says as he grabs a torch from the wall. Kuro points to his right and they both walk down the hallway, "Are you sure it's this way?"

"Nope, but we have to start somewhere. It is a Summoning Contact after all." Xentall shrugs and continues to follow.

After what seems like an eternity. They walk into a large room that is better lit than the halls. Xentall and Kuro contain their excitement as they start their search for the scroll.

"What do you think it looks like?" Kuro asks as he rummages through dusty shelves.

"I don't know. Maybe a really thick scroll with a rope tied around it?" Xentall knees down behind Kuro and throws something heavy on the ground, "Or maybe a large scroll with a rope tied around it that says _Contract from Ryūchi Cave_?" Kuro spins around and falls onto his knees.

"I can't believe you found it! I thought it would've been better hidden!" Xentall unties the rope and rolls it open, "I can't believe we're about to do this!" Kuro grabs his chest in anxiety, "What if it doesn't work?"

"It's going to work, don't chicken out now!" Xentall takes out his short sword and cuts his palm, "A signature in blood." He hands Kuro his short sword and he does the same. They both lather the blood so it covers their entire hand. They both take a deep breath and place their hands onto the paper and then sign their names with one finger, "We did it." They sit there for a moment, their hearts racing, fingers trembling and then Xentall starts to do hand seals but Kuro stops him.

"Are you crazy? You don't know how to summon yet!"

"Then do it with me, I want to summon a snake now! I've waited too long for this!" Kuro lets his grip go and starts to do hand seals with him. They slam their hands onto the ground and a large, black circle appears on the ground and surrounds them. The ground starts to shake and crack. Then a cloud of smoke erupts from the ground and they are lifted into the air, screaming.

Konan is walking down a hallway until she comes to the end and walks through a door where all other Jōnin are lounging. Konan stands near the doorway awkwardly until Shikamaru stands next to her and gives her something wrapped.

"Naruto had this made for you." Konan unwraps the gift and a headband with the symbol of The Rain Village is engraved on it. Konan runs her fingers over it with a smile, "He made two more for your sons when they graduate from The Academy." Shikamaru says as he adjusts his headband on his arm.

"Thank you; you don't know how much this means to me. How much it'll mean to them." She slips it on around her forehead and leans back against the wall, "So what does a Jōnin of the Hidden Leaf do?"

"We usually go on missions and wait to be assigned a squad of Genin to teach. Heard you want your boys in your squad. You sure that's wise?" Konan glares at him and he glares back.

"I'm the only one who knows anything about their gifts. What their father passed down to them. How unlikely it seems, the Rinnegan is hereditary. And I'm the only one who can teach them to control it." Shikamaru looks at her with pure terror as well as everyone else in the room. Konan looks around and sees everyone's faces.

"You mean to tell me that they have the Rinnegan? How is that possible?" Konan shrugs and everyone goes back to their conversations, "I didn't even know he had any sons. Are they dangerous?" Konan slaps Shikamaru and everyone pauses to look at them again.

"Don't you dare accuse my boys of being dangerous!" Shikamaru places a hand on his cheek and he looks Konan over. Her body is in a defensive stance, tears rolling down her cheeks. Shikamaru smiles and places a hand on her shoulder but then the ground shakes and he falls on his back. People can be heard screaming from the outside as they run for their lives. Konan runs to the nearest window and sees a colossal, three-headed snake. All Jōnin run out to combat it and Konan follows them.

When they reach the roofs Konan looks in horror as she sees that all the snake's eyes bare the Rinnegan. All Shinnobi of the Leaf mobilize and prepare for battle. Shikamaru appears next to Konan and she glares at him.

"They're not dangerous, right?" He takes out a cigarette and lights it, "Tell me then, how do you explain this?" He takes a drag then exhales.

"My boys would never harm innocent people!" She looks back at the snake and sees two figures on top of the middle one's head. She runs and jumps towards the snake and she can hear Shikamaru yelling in protest.

The snake's tail whips at Konan, destroying the library. Konan jumps and lands on the middle head. She sees Xentall and Kuro, griping onto the head for their lives.

"Xentall and Kuro Yutaka, you are in so much trouble!" The boys shudder as they turn around and see their mother standing over them with an evil glare, "What were you two thinking? How did you even summon this?"

"We found Orochimaru's old Summoning Contract!" Kuro yells as the snake continues to wreak havoc on the village.

"We didn't mean to summon a big one like this! We just wanted to see if it would work!" Xentall yells as he tries to stand up. Konan grabs both of their ears and the snake head to the left looks at them. Konan glares into the snake's eyes and it dashes at them with an open mouth.

"Jump!" Konan orders and she releases her grip from their ears and jumps off the snake's head. Xentall and Kuro freeze in fear as the snake bites down on the middle one's head, consuming them. Konan yells in horror as she watches her kids get engulfed by the snake. The Middle head roars and hisses in pain as the left head releases its grip. Konan screams as she does hand seals.

"SHIKIGAMI DANCE!" Konan disperses into thousands of sheets of paper and they all fly towards the left head and envelope it. The middle and right head hiss and roar in anger as they both try to break apart the sheets of paper. The left head slowly opens and Konan slowly appears through the sheets and shows only her bust. Her eyes widen as she sees Xentall and Kuro holding each other in fear, "How are you two still alive?" Xentall and Kuro remain silent and she slowly extends her arm out of the paper and holds it out, "Take my hand boys!" She's then ripped out and Xentall runs at her to grab her hand.

"NO!" The mouth remains open and Xentall looks out to see the middle head gripping Konan by her leg, "STOP IT!" The snake looks at him and remains still, "PUT HER DOWN, NOW!" The middle head lowers and places Konan gently onto the nearest roof. Kuro jumps out of the mouth and beckons Xentall to follow, "Now be gone!" The snake disappears in a large cloud of white smoke and Xentall jumps from it and lands next to Kuro.

"Xen, look at what we did." Xentall looks over the now large crater where the Library use to be and the small trail where the snake traveled, "We almost destroyed the village."

"Did you notice the snake's eyes?" Kuro nods slowly, "You don't think anyone else noticed that, do you?" They hear someone clear their throat and they turn around to see all the Shinnobi standing behind them with anger and distain glued to their faces.

"Yes Xen, I think they did notice." Konan walks through the crowd and grabs both of their ears again. They yelp in pain as she tugs on them harder than usual.

"You two are in so much trouble!" Naruto appears in front of them and he has his arms crossed, "Lord Hokage." She says with a surprised tone.

"My office, now!" He demands as he turns around and jumps towards the mountain, Sakura following him. Konan glares at Xentall and Kuro as she jumps to follow them as well. Xentall and Kuro both take a deep breath and follow their mother up the mountain.

Naruto slams his fist into his desk as Xentall and Kuro stand in front of him. Konan is standing behind them with her arms crossed. Naruto paces back and forth behind his desk, trying to find the words to express on what he is feeling.

"Not only have you skipped school, not only have you destroyed the library or the fact that you broke into the Forbidden Section of the library. You have destroyed people's homes and places of business! Lucky for you no one was killed! But there are a handful of injured civilians!" Xentall crosses his arms and shifts his weight from one leg to the other. Kuro rubs the back of his neck as tears start to form in his eyes, "What do you two have to say in your defense?"

"We just wanted to see if we could summon." Kuro says with a shaky voice, "We didn't mean to summon a snake that would be hell bent on destroying the village."

"But it wasn't trying to destroy the village." Sakura jumps in, leaning against Naruto's desk, "It was heading here, to the Lord Hokage's Quarters." Xentall cocks his head at her and she smirks, "Don't play stupid with me boy, I saw that all the eyes on the snake had the Rinnegan, just like you and your brother. It was summoned to kill Naruto. You wanted Naruto dead. This was an assassination attempt!"

"Now wait just a moment! My boys are not assassins! They were just curious of their abilities!" Konan yells as she steps forward.

"Then maybe you are the assassin and making your own sons do all your dirty work!" Konan comes nose to nose with Sakura.

"Do we have a problem here, Forehead?" Sakura's eyes intensify and she grabs Konan's shirt collar as Naruto lets out a slight chuckle.

"Let her go Sakura, we all know this was just an accident; a happy accident actually." Everyone looks at him with wide eyes and a cocked head, "We now know that they do possess the strength and ability to graduate from The Academy. No Academy student could summon something like that. They are younger than me when I did my first summon." Sakura approaches him in protest but he holds his hand up to silence her, "Although I have forgiven you two for this, I must press on the matter of the destruction you have caused. The people of my village already hate your family for its dark past, now they have a real reason to hate you." Xentall grunts in anger.

"Has everyone really forgotten what my father did for you all?" Naruto looks at him with a small frown, "He sacrificed himself to resurrect everyone he killed within the village!"

"One good deed does not clear an entire life of bad ones!" Sakura says with a pout.

"If it wasn't for him your friends and family would be dead!" Xentall walks out and Kuro follows, tears rolling down his cheeks. Konan rubs her temple and Sakura walks out of the office and turns in the opposite direction of the boys.

"Strong willed that one." Naruto says as he sits down in his chair.

"Yeah, you learn to deal with it. And thank you for going easy on them." Naruto nods and goes to his paperwork, "If I can request it, I want some Shinnobi to protect and watch over them during the day, especially during their time at The Academy." Naruto nods, not looking her in the eyes.

"I'll have two Jōnin watch over them. Now leave me, I have thousands of new paperwork to deal with." Konan bows slightly and walks out, following her sons.

"Don't think you two are off the hook just because Naruto is letting you both off with a warning. You two are grounded until you graduate from The Academy." Xentall and Kuro turn around at the same time looking at her with frowns and arms crossed, "Don't give me those looks! She grabs their ears and drags them to a field with a running track, "You two are going to do some training!"

"When do we stop?" Kuro asks with a sigh.

"When I tell you to, you'll start with running the track. Then pushups, then tree bruising, then combat training and then back to running and the cycle will continue until I say so." Kuro and Xentall groan with frustration and Konan claps loudly, "Get going!"

Xentall and Kuro run along the track together. And just when their legs start to go numb, Konan yells next and they drop down to do pushups. Konan and a paper clone appear on each of their backs as they do pushups, adding weight and making it harder.

"I want to see you go as low as you can, boys! You two won't cheat out of this one!" Their arms start to shake and their faces are turning red. Their breathing gets heavy and Konan jumps off of Kuro's back. The paper clone disappears and she yells next. Xentall and Kuro limp over to the nearest trees and start punching and kicking them.

"I don't think I'm ever going to summon again." Kuro grunts under his breath. Xentall looks at him with a smirk, "You think I'm joking?"

"That snake wasn't trying to eat us. It was trying to protect us."

"What makes you say that?" Kuro says as he punches the tree and feels a crack within his left hand. He squints one eye and bares his teeth in pain but continues to punch and kick the tree.

"It didn't swallow." Xentall grunts under his breath. They continue to punch and kick the trees until their knuckles are raw and bloody and their feet are red and numb. Then Konan yells next and they face her. She runs at them and they run at her.

They then start to throw kicks and punches at each other, blocking or dodging them. They continue to do this until she yells next and the cycle of punishment continues again.

Their punishment continues until the middle of the night. She then tells them to stop when they're at the trees. As soon as she said the word they dropped to the ground, exhausted and broken. Konan and a paper clone pick them up and carry them back to their house where she bandages their wounds, feeds them chicken and rice and then lays them in bed.

She then strips down to her under shirt and shorts and lays in her own bed, exhausted and completely scared of the day to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 04

A False Attack and True Hatred!

Xentall and Kuro are siting with their heads down on their desks. They're in the front seats of the classroom with two ninjas standing on either side of the door to the classroom, one in the back and one more in the far corner of the room to their right. Kids start to swarm into the classroom talking and laughing; then they see the brothers and get quiet. They take their seats and continue to talk amongst themselves in a more hushed tone.

"This is humiliating. We don't need this many babysitters and I know they are all talking about us!" Xentall groans as he rubs his shoulder that is bandaged, "We didn't even mean to do it, how were we suppose to know a colossal snake would pop out?"

"I believe its common sense. Most of the snakes from Ryūchi Cave are colossal." Kuro sighs as he sits up slowly, trying to not hurt his back any more than it already is, "Do you think mom will make us train like that again?"

"I'd rather take the training then this humiliation." The teacher walks in and clears his throat to get the classes attention.

"Now then, since we now have the chance, I'd like to introduce two new students into The Academy, Xentall and Kuro Yutaka." He gestures to them with a glare of spite, "I'm sure you'll learn a lot here if you actually decide to stay for a class."

"We only skipped once so why don't you stop pointing fingers and just get on with the lesson?" Xentall yells as he slams his fist on the desk. Kuro slaps his injured shoulder and Xentall grabs it in pain as he grunts. The teacher clears his throat again and starts to draw the human body on the chalkboard.

"As I hope most of you already know; the body contains immense amount of energy called Chakra. Chakra enables humans like us to perform extraordinary phenomena called Jutsu. How many types of Jutsu are there?" A girl with long, black hair raises her hand eagerly, "Yes Ms. Hyuga?"

"There are many forms of Jutsu but the three main branches are Tai, Gen and Ninjutsu."

"Very good Ms. Hyuga, now what do one of these three Jutsu do?" Naoko raises his hand and Xentall's muscles tense up.

"That's one of the kids that were with Eiji." He says as he clutches his fists.

"Yes, Mr. Hyuga?"

"Ninjutsu is a non-physical form of offense or defense. It relies on the Chakra within us and the elements all around to attack or defend." The teacher nods as he writes it down on the chalkboard. Xentall smiles and raises his hand. Kuro tries to stop him because he knows that face he makes and it means trouble.

"Yes Mr. Yutaka?"

"What about Dōjutsu?" The class goes silent and the teacher chuckles."

"That's a bit too advance for you right now."

"I don't think so, sir. We are learning about different forms of Jutsu; why not all of them?"

"Fine, what do you know about Dōjutsu?"

"It means Eye Technique and that there are three types of Dōjutsu." Kuro rubs the bandage that is covering his Rinnegan in his left eye.

"Alright then, who here possess a Dōjutsu?" The teacher asks as he places the piece of chalk onto his desk. Both of the kids from the Hyuga clan raise their hands, a short girl with very long black hair raises her hand and both Xentall and Kuro raise their hand, "Right, the Hyuga clan possesses the Byakugan, which grants the user the ability to have a three-sixty field of vision as well as binocular vision." The two kids from the Hyuga clan lower their hands, "And as for Ms. Viola Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan possesses the Sharingan; which allows the user to have multiple abilities such as copying others' movements or anticipating them. Also allows the user to see Chakra flow and gain the ability to learn very powerful Genjutsu." Viola lowers her arm and the teacher stares at both Xentall and Kuro with discomfort.

"What's the third Dōjutsu sir?" Xentall looks over his shoulder and sees that Riu girl from the first day they arrived in The Academy.

"The third Dōjutsu is considered to be the most powerful." The teacher draws circles within circles and then a dot in the middle, "The Rinnegan. This Dōjutsu has many different abilities. From what we learned when Pein attacked was that it grants the user Six Paths." Another kid raises his arm; he's large, tall and looks like an adult already.

"What are the Six Paths?"

"The Six Paths are; Tendō, Shuradō, Ningendō, Chikushōdō, Gakidō and Jigokudō. Each path with its own set ability. Each path deadly alone, and invincible if together." Xentall leans forward in his seat with excitement, "The Tendō path grants the user the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces with objects and people."

"Isn't that the most powerful path?" Eiji asks as he raises his hand.

"Yes, though some would speculate that the Shuradō path is more powerful. It grants the user the ability to summon mechanized armor, augmenting their body with extra limbs and various mechanical weaponry. Though this path, like all others, can be summoned like a normal Jutsu and used on your very own body, granting you extra limbs made of flesh and blood." Kuro groans in pain as he imagines what you'd have to sacrifice to get that.

"What is the main ability of this Dōjutsu?" Riu asks with a large smile on her face.

"The main ability is that anyone who poses this Dōjutsu shares a visual link. They can see what others, like their clones, can see which is why it makes them deadly together."

"Because you can never blind side one of them or even sneak up from behind?" Xentall asks with a spring in his step.

"Yes, precisely." He goes back to writing information on the chalkboard and Xentall is shaking with anticipation. Kuro looks him over and sighs.

"I see why mom is worried about us now." He whispers under his breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xentall hisses, glaring at his brother.

"It means that you're now going to try and do this stuff. Do you realize what you'll have to do to even gain this sort of power?"

"No."

"Exactly! You don't know! And you could hurt yourself or worse—if you try to do it." Kuro says, placing a finger on Xentall's chest, "If you really want to use the Rinnegan to its full potential, ask mom to teach you what she knows! Don't do it half-assed! I'll kill you if you kill yourself trying to get stronger all because you have a grudge against this village!" Xentall growls under his breath as he leans back in his seat with crossed arms. Kuro does the same and now they hear nothing but mindless droning from the teacher's mouth.

The rest of the class goes by slowly due to Xentall and Kuro's impatience with each other. But finally the bell rings and they are now all walking to the courtyard to start their physical training. Xentall and Kuro are in the back of the pack with one ninja in front of them and one in behind. Xentall continues to grovel in annoyance and Kuro remains silent. They then walk into a large courtyard behind The Academy and there are three Shinnobi waiting for the class to gather.

"Welcome everyone! My name is Hinata Hyuga and with me today are Rock Lee and Shikamaru Narra! We'll each put you through some drills to see which forms of Jutsu are your strengths. This is to help you chose which Jutsu you will be performing during your graduation ceremony." Xentall looks to his left to see Riu swaying side to side in anticipation. He then looks ahead and sees Viola staring at him over her shoulder, "So please, choose one of us and we'll begin your training!" Kids start to divide into three groups while Xentall and Kuro remain still. Hinata sees them not moving and walks over to them, "Is something wrong?"

"Well, the thing is Hinata Sensei, is that our mother drilled us into the ground last night and we're not fit do our physical education at this time." Kuro says with a sarcastic groan. Xentall stifles a chuckle and Hinata looks at them both with her hands on her hips.

"Probably because their afraid they'll lose like last time!" Eiji yells over the commotion. Xentall tightens his fists and stares at him, "What's wrong tough guy, afraid to get beat a second time?" Xentall then rushes towards him, unsheathing his short sword but Rock Lee and Shikamaru intercept him. They hold him back as Xentall thrashes in their grip, swearing and cursing. Then a few sheets of paper cover his mouth as Kuro walks past them in a calm demeanor and stands in front of Eiji.

"Don't mind him; he's a little hot headed. I however would love to take you up on your challenge." Eiji adjusts his goggles and smirks. Xentall gets even louder through his gag and is pointing his short sword at Kuro.

"You think you can tango with me?" Kuro remains silent as Eiji and his friends laugh, "Alright then, let's see what you've got!" He runs towards Kuro and swings his fist but Kuro trips him up and slams his body into the ground. Kuro steps back as Eiji slowly gets up, "How the hell did you do that."

"That is enough! You're meant to fight us not each other!" Hinata yells as she runs in between them, "Now get back to your groups and await further instruction!" Eiji glares at Kuro as he walks back to his group. Shikamaru and Lee release Xentall and Kuro walks back next to him.

"Why did you do that? I could've taken him! You have no right to fight my battles!" Xentall screams, placing a stern finger on his brother's chest.

"I have every right to fight your battles as you have every right to fight mine. That's what brother's do. Besides, even _if _they didn't stop you, you're too weak to fight." Kuro sighs as he swats Xentall's hand off of him.

"So are you!" Kuro slaps his shoulder again and Xentall yelps in pain, "Stop doing that!"

"Right, you two are with me. Let's go!" Hinata commands as she walks towards a group of kids. Xentall and Kuro follow; glaring at each other. They join the group of kids as each one gets a go at Hinata. Xentall sees Riu fighting with Rock Lee and his attention is then drawn to Viola who is still giving him the stink eye. Kuro pushes Xentall forward to face Hinata and she's in her fighting stance, "I see a sword on your belt. Guess you use Kenjutsu a lot?" Xentall unsheathes his short sword and gets into his fighting stance.

"I love the way of the sword. I plan on becoming a Master Swordsman!"

"That's very ambitious of you. I hope you make that dream come true."

"It's not a dream. It's a goal!" Xentall then charges at her and swings downwards. She clasps her hands together and catches the blade mid-swing.

"In my opinion, swords make you too clumsy." She grips Xentall's collar and swings him over her head, "Makes rely on the blade instead of your own ability!" Xentall crashes onto the ground and Hinata takes a few steps back.

"But I have more than just a sword!" He clasps both hands over the handle of his sword and starts to do hand seals.

"Oh, looks like this fight is going to be more entertaining than I thought." She says with a smirk.

"More then you know." Xentall says under his breath. Hinata stares at Xentall and black lightning slowly starts to form around the blade.

"Dark Release: Shadow Blade Jutsu!" A storm of black lightning envelopes around the blade as Xentall runs towards Hinata. Hinata does hand seals as she runs towards Xentall.

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists!" Blue energy engulfs her fists and they form to lion heads. She grabs the blade with both hands and the black lightning intensifies as well as Hinata's blue energy. The wind picks up and she rips the blade from Xentall's hands and throws it aside. Her Jutsu disappears and she strikes Xentall in the back of the head, making him collapse onto the ground, "That was pretty impressive. But it took a lot of chakra out of you, huh?" She sighs as she kneels down to meet Xentall's face.

"I still have enough strength to fight!" He starts to get up but his bandage over his right eye comes undone and his Rinnegan is visible. Hinata stares in horror as memories from when Pain attacked her village rush through her mind.

"There's a difference between strength through anger, and strength through will." She picks up his bandages and wraps them around his right eye, tying them back in place, "You need to decide where that strength comes from before you go down the wrong road." She helps him up and places a hand on his shoulder. He looks at her with furrowed eyebrows and she cocks her head; telling him to go back. He nods and then walks back into the crowd as Kuro steps forward. Xentall places a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"I'm going to see if that visual link thing is true." Xentall whispers in Kuro's ear. He nods and steps in front of Hinata who is in her fighting stance again. Xentall loosens his bandages over his right eye and creates a small gap to where he can see out with his Rinnegan.

"Ready?" Hinata asks. Kuro stumbles for a second as he gets dizzy and sees a different angle of the field. He then looks at Xentall but also sees himself looking at him. He shakes his head and gets back in a firm stance.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He sighs. Hinata runs at him and throws a punch. Kuro ducks and pivots to his left as he sweeps his right foot at her legs. She jumps over him and swings her elbow at his head. Without even turning his head, he grabs it before it makes contact and Hinata stares in awe. He grips her shoulder tightly so she can't get away, "It actually works." He mumbles under his breath.

"What works?" She then sees Xentall staring at them with his Rinnegan and she gasps. She shakes lose from his grip and jumps back. Kuro spins around and raises his fists. More memories of the Akatsuki's attack rush through her mind and she starts to tear up. She shakes her head and Kuro cocks his head in confusion, "Go back to the group." She demands as she points to the crowd of kids. Kuro nods and walks back next to Xentall as another student steps forward.

"I can't believe it worked." Kuro says under his breath.

"That's awesome; this means no one can get the jump on us!" Xentall says with excitement. Kuro slaps his shoulder and Xentall grips it, "I said stop that!" He punches Kuro in the chest and he falls onto his knees in pain.

"You hit me way harder then I hit you!"

"That was combined strength for all the times you slapped me on the shoulder!" Xentall looks behind himself to see that Riu girl looking at them again, "She keeps staring at us."

"Who?" Kuro stands up and glares over his shoulder and sees the red haired girl from yesterday, "Maybe she's a fan?"

"Or maybe she wants to catch us off our guard so she can kill us." Kuro laughs as he ties his brother's bandage to cover his eye back up.

"Not everyone who looks at us wants to kill us, Xen." Xentall looks at Kuro with a smirk and he shrugs, "Well, very few people don't want us dead."

Xentall and Kuro watch for the rest of the day as students spar with the teachers. It felt like an eternity for school to end but once the last bell rang Xentall and Kuro walk out of the building with all the other students. Then a girl with dark eyes steps in front of them and they stand there in silence.

"What do you want Viola?"

"Your little attack on the village destroyed my family's home!"

"It was by accident, we didn't know the snake we would summon would be so large." Kuro says as he begins to walk around her but she extends an arm, stopping him.

"We now have to live with another family connected to the Uchiha Clan. I will teach you a lesson; no one tries to harm my family!" She steps back and gets into a fighting stance. The Sharingan appears in her eyes and both of them have two pinwheels.

"We didn't intentionally destroy the library or your home. Now step aside." Xentall tries to walk past her but she swings her leg around and connects with his stomach. He's sent backwards and Kuro catches him. Konan then appears behind Viola and she taps her shoulder. Viola turns around and backs up.

"If you don't mind I'll be taking my children home." Viola lowers her head in shame as Konan grabs Xentall's and Kuro's hands and leads them home, "Why is it every day I find you two in some sort of trouble or fight?"

"It's not our fault; everyone hates us for stupid reasons!" Xentall says through his teeth.

"Can you blame them? You just destroyed the library and many homes. Lucky for you no one was killed!"

"It was by accident. We just wanted to summon a colossal snake." Kuro says as he chokes back tears. Konan sighs and stops in front of the door to their home. She knees down and puts a hand on their cheeks.

"Look, I know times are tough right now. We're in a strange setting, surrounded by people who begrudge us because of the past. We just have to brave through each day with our heads held high. I was told by Lord Hokage that you two will be put under my teachings after graduation.

"Don't you think it's unfair that we get to graduate on our third day of school? We have the weekend and then on Monday, graduation." Kuro says with a frown.

"Naruto knows you two are passed the level of Academy Students. Plus, he's made something special for the two of you on your graduation."

"Do you know who will be the third student in our squad?" Xentall asks with clenched fists.

"I don't know. But whoever it is, you promise me that you'll play nice with whoever it is. You hear me?" Xentall shifts his weight from one leg to the other and crosses his arms, "Do you hear me?" Xentall looks her in the eyes and nods. She smiles and taps his nose, "Good boy." She turns around and opens the door. They all walk inside and Xentall slumps onto the couch, "I'm going to the market and you two are to stay here and wait for me to return home." She grabs a basket and kisses both of their heads, "I won't be gone long." She closes the door behind her and leaves the two brothers alone in the living room.

Xentall straightens up so Kuro can sit next to him and they both cross their arms with frowns glued on their faces. Kuro sighs and Xentall looks up and stares at the ceiling with furrowed eyebrows and clenched fists.

"I can't believe we're graduating with only three days in The Academy." Kuro says through grit teeth.

"I can't believe mom is going to be my sensei. That's SO unfair! We should branch out and be trained under a different sensei!" Xentall yells at himself while kicking his feet up onto the coffee table.

"No other Jōnin know how to teach us jutsus that complement our strengths. It makes perfect sense for the only one that knows our skills and can advance them to teach us. I'm angrier at the fact that we're graduating only after two days in The Academy. We haven't learned anything about this village!"

"Technically we only have one day of school under our belts. Remember, we skipped out on our first day to summon that colossal snake." Xentall says with a deep sigh.

"That—does not help." Kuro hisses.

"Besides, everything we can learn about this village is in the library."

"We destroyed it, remember?" Kuro says poking Xentall's head. Xentall swats his hand away and resumes his pouting.

"What do you want to do now?"

"We could try summoning again?"

"And destroy our home too? No way, mom will have our asses." Xentall says with a shiver, "We could practice combat?"

"We can't leave home." Kuro says with crossed arms, "We could channel our chakra?"

"I don't feel like it, it takes forever and you know I hate sitting still for prolonged periods of time!"

"You are probably the most impatient ninja I've ever known." Kuro chuckles as he nudges his brother in the arm. Xentall slaps the back of his head and they resume their silence.

"What do you think of that Riu girl?" Xentall asks, breaking the silence between them.

"I think she's obsessed with us."

"What makes you say that?" Xentall asks, looking up to meet his brother's face. Instead he sees his back and when he looks further up he sees Kuro starring out the window.

"Because she's walking towards our door." She knocks on the door and Xentall groans as he gets up to open it.

"Hi Xentall!" She says with a cheery squeal; her grin reaching from ear to ear.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you guys wanted to hang out? I could show you around the village?"

"Did you follow us the entire way home from The Academy?" She puts her hands behind her back and looks down with a red face.

"Well when you say it like that, it makes me look weird."

"You wouldn't believe." Xentall sighs under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. Kuro walks beside Xentall with a small smile.

"Well we would love to hang out with you, but our mother gave us strict orders to not leave home." Kuro says with a sarcastic sigh.

"Oh, she said its o.k. I ran into her on my way up here. She said as long as you two don't get into another fight you can come out and hang with me." Kuro smiles and walks next to Riu while Xentall stands there grinding his teeth with rage.

"Are you going to come or sit at home with nothing but your thoughts?" Kuro asks with a grin. Xentall takes a step forward and slams the door shut behind him. Riu jumps with excitement and grabs both of their arms.

"Come on, I'll buy us some ramen!"

"I can't wait." Xentall mumbles through grit teeth. She pulls them down the stairs and into the streets of a busy market. Xentall sneers at everyone that passes by them while Kuro and Riu engage in conversation.

"So you guys were born and raised in the woods?"

"Yup, our mother kept us away from villages in fear of them wanting to kill us."

"Well considering every time I've seen you guys you're in bandages I'd assume she's right." Kuro laughs and Xentall just glares at them from behind.

"Xentall is worse off than I am. He's usually in bandages so get use it." Kuro laughs while rubbing his neck.

"What is with him by the way? He seems angry."

"I'm always angry." Xentall grunts with his arms crossed, "Where is this ramen place?"

"It's up ahead!" Riu chuckles as she grabs their arms again and pulls them towards a small shack with white curtains as its door.

Riu pulls back one of the curtains as Kuro and Xentall walk through it and sit down on the stools. Riu sits next to Xentall and rings a bell for service.

"Hello and welcome to The Ramen Shack. What would you like?" A young woman in a white apron and black bandana asks as she places three cups of water in front of them.

"We would like three bowls of your today's special!" Riu says with enthusiasm. The waitress smiles and runs in the back to get their order.

"The Ramen Shack— how original." Xentall sighs as he rests his chin in his hand.

"Must you always be a stick in the mud, Xen?" Kuro asks nudging his brother with his elbow.

"Yeah, why do you have to be such a downer?" Xentall glares at Riu and she just returns the glare with a smile, "So Kuro tells me you're a bit of a hothead."

"Well maybe he should keep his big mouth shut." Xentall says as he slaps the back of Kuro's head, making him choke on his sip of water, "Why are you trying to be nice to us?"

"Why are you trying to be so mean to me?" Xentall opens his mouth to retort but then closes it as he has nothing to say in response, "So how does your Rinnegan work if you both have it? Are you able to summon the Six Paths?"

"We don't know. All we really know at this point is that we share a visual link." Riu stares at them with interest as Kuro goes on, "I guess we don't really have the power of the Six Paths since we share the Rinnegan making Seven Paths."

"I haven't thought of that, that actually makes sense." Xentall says with a frown.

"Maybe you guys only have access to specific paths?" Riu suggests, leaning her head over Xentall to meet Kuro's face. Xentall immediately returns to when those Leaf Shinnobi attacked him and his family.

"I know I have the ability of the Tendō and Gakidō Paths." Xentall says with a stone cold, blood thirsty expression. Kuro places a hand on Xentall's shoulder to calm him down.

"That's right; you did absorb that Ninjutsu back in the woods. But how do you know you have the Tendō Path?"

"Mom said out of the few rare occasions of talking about dad that that was his go to Path. And she always says I'm just like him." Xentall says with a growl. Kuro grips his shoulder tightly and Xentall lets out another sigh to bring his temper back down, "Sorry. Just the thought of that day sets my teeth on edge."

"What day? What happened?" Riu asks with her face in Xentall's with a wide smile and shining eyes.

"Maybe another time Riu? The wounds of that day are still fresh." Kuro says as he pats Xentall's back, "Just calm down brother. We're safe within these walls." He whispers in his ear.

"Define safe." Xentall says plainly right before three large bowls of steaming hot ramen is placed before them. Riu claps with a scream of excitement and then starts to stuff her face, "Is she insane or always this—enthusiastic?" Xentall asks with furrowed eyebrows. Kuro shrugs and starts to slurp up his noodles. Xentall looks at them both with distain before her starts to eat his ramen at a much slower pace than them.

"So—what do you think of the ramen?" Riu asks, some of the broth splattering onto Xentall's face, "Isn't it divine?"

"It's better in your mouth than on my face!" Xentall grunts as he wipes it off of his cheek.

"Translation; it's good." Kuro chuckles while nudging his brother with his elbow.

"So can I ask you guys a question?" Xentall and Kuro cock their heads towards Riu as she finishes her bowl, "How did you guys summon that snake? I mean I have to admit, when they were evacuating The Academy and I looked at that three headed snake—I was both terrified and impressed!" She yells with her hands in the air, "I mean—that thing was HUGE!"

"We honestly didn't know what we were doing! We looked up techniques and different variations on summoning. We looked up all the lore on Ryūchi Cave and-

"What's Ryūchi Cave?" Riu asks, interrupting Kuro.

"It's where the great Colossal Snakes live. Kind of like Mount Myōboku for the Toads." Riu nods in understanding.

"Anyway—we weren't expecting to summon that snake. We were just winging it." Xentall nods in agreement and Riu just laughs, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just so funny how you guys can be so modest."

"We're not being modest. We really didn't know what we were doing!" Kuro protests. Xentall laughs and grabs his brother's shoulder.

"Now who's the one being all defensive?"

"I just hate it when people think we're stronger than we are. I don't want lies feeding our lives. People will have high expectations if things like that start up."

"My brother is a stickler for the truth. Forgive him." Riu smiles ear to ear and Xentall raises an eyebrow, "What?"

"This is the first time I've seen you smile." Xentall blushes and he then regains his composure and goes back to eating.

"And he's a stickler for keeping up the tough as nails façade." Kuro says with another chuckle, "Anyway, we should be getting back home. Mom is probably waiting for us." He says as he gets up and stretches.

"But we just started hanging out! Can't you guys stay for just a little while longer?" Riu whines, grabbing Kuro's arm.

"I'm sorry but he's right. We're still technically grounded so we best be getting home." Xentall says with a sigh, "Thanks for the ramen though. We'll see you later." Xentall says as he pats her shoulder.

"I'll see you guys at the graduation ceremony then?" The brothers nod in unison and she cracks a smile, "O.k. then." She releases her grip on Kuro's arm and digs money out of her pocket.

Kuro and Xentall wave goodbye before heading back home. The sun is setting over the Hokage Monument, casting a shadow over the entire village. They run up the stairs to their home and when they open the door they see their mother carefully placing the headbands and rings of the Akatsuki in a new, clear glass case.

"Welcome back, did you two have fun with Riu?" She asks as she stands up and dusts herself off.

"It was o.k. We got free ramen out of it." Xentall sighs as he slouches on the couch, his feet hanging off of the end. Konan smirks at him and looks over at Kuro who is filling up a glass of water at the sink.

"Why do you keep those anyway?" Kuro asks before taking a sip.

"It's a reminder. Makes me remember on why I chose to leave the organization after your father—

"After our father died?" Xentall interrupts; seeing his mother was getting choked up at the thought of it. She nods silently and goes back to placing the last few headbands in.

"How did you get them anyway? Weren't most of them lost?" Kuro asks as he shoves Xentall's legs onto the coffee table; making himself room to sit on the couch.

"It wasn't easy. Hidan was buried under tons of rock. Zetsu was impossible to find, but when I did find him I had to fight him to get his headband and ring. Sick bastard was tasked with eating the corpses of the people we used." She shudders at the thought, "Itachi's headband and ring was almost burned because of his little brother; Sauske's Amaterasu."

"Ama—what?"

"Amaterasu; a Mangekyō Sharingan technique. It's the highest level of Fire Release. Black fire that burns anything and everything and can't be put out."

"How did you manage to not get burned?" Xentall asks, his curiosity peaking.

"Very. Carefully." She chuckles. She slides the glass door shut and locks it, "So I guess you kids don't need dinner?" She sighs as she stretches while standing back up.

"Yeah, we're full." Kuro says as he rubs his stomach.

"Well then, brush your teeth and get to bed." She says as she ruffles Xentall's hair. He swats her hand away playfully as Kuro stands up and walks to the bathroom, "Tomorrow we're going to see Naruto again. He wants to talk to you two." Xentall stops in his tracks and Kuro sticks his head out with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

"Why?" Xentall asks through grit teeth and clenched fists.

"I don't know why. All I know is he wants to talk to two. Finish brushing your teeth then go to bed." Xentall groans along with Kuro and Konan walks down to her room and shuts the door. Xentall joins his brother and starts brushing his teeth.

"You think we're in trouble?" Kuro asks with a shaky voice.

"No. We'd be in trouble already due to that snake incident. He's probably just going to give us community service." Kuro coughs and chokes on his toothpaste, "What's up?"

"Community service! That means spending out—in the community!" Kuro yells, spitting his toothpaste into the sink. Xentall eyes widen in realization.

"I take it back. I'd rather be hanging upside down for the rest of my life than be stuck out in public with the pissed off villagers." Xentall sighs with a lump in his throat.

"Agreed!" Kuro says as he slaps his brother's back in agreement. They both sigh as they leave the bathroom and walk into their rooms for a very troubling night.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 05

Enter: The Sage of the Snakes!

Xentall slowly opens his eyes to the smell of food from the kitchen. He groans as he slowly sits himself up and looks around the room with one eye open. He can hear his mother and Kuro talking outside of his room and he can smell bacon. He slowly rises from his bed and opens the door to a barrage and delicious smelling food. He hums to himself as he slowly walks over to the dinner table.

"Good morning Xen. How'd you sleep?" Konan asks as she pours a glass of milk for him.

"Terribly; it feels like I slept on a bed made of rocks." He groans as he lays his head on the table and rubs his back, "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby." She teases as she places the glass of milk next to Xentall and then kisses his head, "You better take a shower after you eat breakfast. I could smell you from your room." Xentall groans and Konan rolls her eyes, "I swear, the day you both turned eight you forgot how to play with water." She sighs to herself as she flips a pancake, "Kuro, serve your brother and then get ready. Your breakfast will be ready when you're done."

"Yes ma'am." Kuro says as he grabs a plate with four pancakes, a few strips of bacon and a small pile of eggs, "Here you go du—oh my god! You do stink!" Kuro says as he gags while placing the plate in front of Xentall's face.

"I bet you smelt the same way before taking a shower you daisy." Xentall says as he places his hand on Kuro's face and then brushes it downwards, "Ugh—I'm too tired to mess with you. Go pamper yourself already." Kuro gags again while walking past him to get to his room. Xentall turns his head onto its side and grabs a pancake with his hands and just places it in his mouth and starts to chew on it; not bothering to lift his head.

"Use a fork, Xen." Konan sighs as she sits across from him with a cup of coffee. Xentall just groans in protest as he continues to slowly chew on his pancake, "You're usually very good at getting up in the morning. What's wrong?"

"My body feels like it fell off of a mountain and hit every jagged rock on the way down." Xentall groans as he finishes the pancake and grabs a few pieces of bacon, "Plus I'm not that delighted to be seeing The Hokage." He mumbles as he stuffs his cheeks with three pieces of bacon.

"I'm sure you and Kuro will be just fine." She chuckles before taking a sip of her coffee. Xentall slowly lifts his head and grabs his cup of milk, "I seriously want you to take a shower before we leave. You stink to high heaven." Xentall groans through his glass as he chugs his milk, "I'm serious Xen. I don't want you smelling like a dumpster. Scoot." She shoos Xentall away and he groans as he walks towards the bathroom, "And actually clean yourself this time!"

"Whatever!" Xentall groans. Kuro walks out of his room with his clothes on and Xentall starts taking off his clothes to get into the shower.

"Be sure to get behind your ears." Kuro teases. Xentall lets out a sarcastic chuckle before turning on the water and sliding the door shut.

A few minutes pass by and Xentall is fully clothed and waiting outside next to his brother while their mother locks the door. They walk down the stairs and head towards the Hokage Monument; on their way to see The Hokage. As they get closer and closer Xentall's fists get tighter and tighter. The mere thought of having Naruto helping them left and right makes his blood boil.

"Are you o.k. Xen?" Kuro asks as he places a hand on Xentall's back.

"I just hate the fact that mom is letting Naruto help us. He got us a home, he's letting us graduate after only two days of being at The Academy. He's letting mom be our sensei. I hate this whole setup."

"You're thinking about this too much Xen. He's not doing this because he knows it gets to you or that he feels obligated to do it after what happened to dad."

"Then why is he doing it?"

"Because we were taught by the same sensei; we're sibling students." Konan says over her shoulder with a smirk, "He's actually a very good guy. You can learn a thing or two from him." She chuckles as they start to walk up a very old and very long stone stairwell that leads up the monument.

"I'd rather have my eyes pecked out by crows." Xentall hisses. Kuro laughs along with Konan and Xentall crosses his arms, "Very nice guys. I feel loved." Kuro laughs even harder and shakes his brother playfully.

"We're just teasing you bro." Xentall glares at his brother and Konan looks at Xentall over her shoulder with a soft, warm smile on her face. Xentall can't help but smile back.

"Remember, best behaviors—I'm talking to you Xen!"

"Yeah, yeah I get it." Xentall says as he puts the hands behind his head with a sigh, "As long as he behaves himself too." Konan looks over her shoulder with a glare and Xentall returns it with his tongue hanging out.

"That tongue comes out again; it stays out!" Konan laughs as she shines a kunai. Xentall brings his tongue back in with wide eyes and Kuro lets out a stifled laugh as they enter a large building where various Shinnobi are buzzing around. Passing papers and signing them. Informing others of situations in other nations. The noise is deafening.

"Ms. Yutaka, the Lord Hokage is in his office. He's waiting for you." A ninja with short, brown hair and dark green eyes says as she walks in front of us so she can lead us to Naruto, "Right this way." She says as she guides them up another flight of stairs and in a large hallway that leads to a large pair of double doors. She opens them and Naruto can be seen signing off some papers while Sakura is leaning of his desk, waiting for them.

"Naruto, they're here." She says as she taps his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hello. Glad you could make it."

"Well, with the town wanting our heads on a stick we figured we'd come to the safest place in the village." Xentall says with a smirk. Konan grabs his ear and pulls tightly, "I mean we're honored you wanted to talk to us!" He yells through grit teeth as his mother's nails dig into his ear. Naruto and Sakura laugh and it's like nails on a chalkboard to Xentall's good ear. Konan releases her grip and Xentall grips his ear in pain.

"Please, take a seat." Naruto says as he gestures to two seats for Xentall and Kuro. They both sit down as Sakura and Konan stand behind them with their arms crossed, "I have a concern about you two; about the ceremony." He says as he leans on his desk, interlocking his fingers, "You see; it's not just an Academy student performing a low-grade jutsu in front of me and his or her teachers. It's basically a talent show now."

"Excuse me? When did I sign up for a beauty pageant?" Xentall barks through grit teeth. Konan flicks his bad ear and he yelps in pain as he grasps it again.

"What my brother means to ask is, what do you mean by _talent show_?" Kuro asks as he tries to hide his smile.

"Ever since the war; the Land of Fire has been edgy about who becomes a Shinnobi. So the people of my land want to know how good their protectors really are." He sighs with a small frown.

"So why do you need to talk to us about that?" Kuro asks as he leans back in his seat.

"I don't know most of the jutsus you know, but I do know that none of them are passive." He points a finger at Kuro and Xentall's muscles tense up. Konan places a hand on his shoulder but that just makes him tenser, "I know you have the same skills as your mother. I trust you to just do something big and beautiful." He then points to Xentall and Konan grips his shoulder to keep him from jumping over the desk, "You on the other hand. I hear you know a very powerful jutsu; Shadow Blade?"

"How do you-?"

"Hinata is my wife. She said it was very impressive but for this _beauty pageant_ I need something that won't send my people running for their lives. The scars of what your father did-

"IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!" Xentall screams, jumping out of his seat and slamming his hands onto the desk, "What my father did, was bring your people back to life. Half of your people wouldn't be alive to hold this grudge if it wasn't for him!" Sakura moves to grab Xentall but Naruto holds up his hand to stop her.

"If your father didn't do what he did to begin with, these people wouldn't have a grudge against your family." He stands up and places a hand on Xentall's shoulder with a warm smile on his face, "But you're right, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have a land to protect. He risked his life to save my people; even my sensei and old friend Kakashi-

"May he rest in peace." Sakura says as she bows her head. Naruto does the same and Xentall sits back down in shame.

"I need to know that you won't do anything to scare the people. And no showing your Rinnegan either. That'll really set them off."

"This is total bull-

"Watch it!" Konan says as she flicks Xentall's ear again.

"What can you do that won't start a stampede?" Naruto asks sternly; staring Xentall in the eyes.

"I don't know. I don't know anything that's pretty or sparkly." Xentall says with a sigh as he crosses his arms.

"That's the truth. He really doesn't know anything passive." Kuro says as he rubs his temple. Naruto sighs as he also rubs his temple.

"Anything? Anything at all? A few shadow clones will do!"

"He doesn't do shadow clones. Says; if you need to bring in copies of yourself to fight for you; you don't deserve to be called a ninja." Konan says with a hefty sigh. Naruto grips his fist tightly and a vein can be seen through his forehead.

"Do you think you can summon again?" Everyone looks at him like he's insane and Xentall cocks his head; more surprised than anyone.

"Are you asking him to summon that three-headed snake again?" Sakura yells, her voice cracking and her body in a defensive position.

"No. Not really. He's going to get a day's worth of training in him so he knows how to summon correctly. How to choose his summon wisely."

"How? Are you going to teach me? You're just a Sage from Mount Myōboku!" Xentall hisses. Naruto laughs and places a framed photo in front of Xentall. It's Naruto, Sakura and one more person with the Sharingan standing next to each other, "Who is that?" Naruto points at the man with the Sharingan.

"That is your Ryūchi Sage; Sasuke Uchiha. Close friend of mine and leader of the newly reformed Uchiha Clan." Xentall looks the picture and stares at Sasuke, "Go to his home, and give him this note." Naruto says as he writes on a piece of paper, "He'll teach you the best he can in one day."

"Both of us." Xentall says with his arms crossed, "He teaches both Kuro and I." Naruto nods and he hands the piece of paper to Xentall.

"I'll make sure the ceremony takes place in a large, open space so you can summon. But Kuro; you stick to your jutsus." Kuro nods as he stands up. Xentall stands up with him and as he turns around Konan gets in his way and nods behind him. Xentall growls lowly and turns back around.

"Thank you." Xentall hisses through grit teeth. Naruto chuckles and that makes Xentall's skin crawl.

"You're welcome Mr. Yutaka." Naruto says with a wide smile. Xentall and Kuro walk out, leaving Konan behind, "Strong willed that one."

"Sound familiar?" Konan chuckles, rubbing her forehead, "Thank you, so much. It's been their dream to become Sages of Ryūchi. Thank you." Naruto nods and Sakura walks out of the room; closing the door behind her.

"I need to talk to you about those two." Naruto says, walking around his desk and leaning on it; facing Konan, "Those two are strong, especially now that they have the Rinnegan." Konan nods, knowing where this is headed, "I'm—afraid for them. I'm afraid they'll go down the same path your father did. They already have a reason to, I killed him."

"Naruto, you did what was best for your friends; your family. Nagato made the decision to save your people. You did nothing to hurt him, they know that." Konan says, placing a shoulder on Naruto's shoulder, "They're _not_ going to make the same mistakes their father did."

"There's one more thing." Konan cocks her head as Naruto rummages through his desk, "I had these made for your sons." He hands Konan two more headbands with the Rain symbol on them, "I'm pretty sure this will raise their spirits." He chuckles as Konan runs her fingers over them.

"This will. Count on it." She says as she starts to walk out the door.

"Take care of yourself Ms. Yutaka." Konan looks over her shoulder and Naruto has that smile that almost makes her cry.

"Yahiko—Nagato." A tear rolls down her cheek as she stares at the Rain symbol, "You'll live on through them." She walks out of the office; gripping onto the headbands with pride.

Xentall and Kuro are walking through town with their heads down and making sure the bandages over their Rinnegan are tight. The town's people glare at them with pure hatred gleaming in their eyes. Xentall glares back while Kuro keeps him from killing them.

"They're more afraid of us then we are of them." Kuro laughs, trying to release some of the tension.

"I'm not scared of them." Xentall yells, slapping his brother on the back of the head, "Where in the world are we going anyway?"

"Just follow the signs." Kuro says as he rubs the back of his head.

"What signs?" Kuro points up and Xentall sees the Uchiwa Symbol, "Huh, so that's their symbol. Very clever."

"What's clever?" Kuro asks as they make a right into a wide alley.

"The Uchiwa is a fan. Used to make flames hotter and grow bigger."

"I get it! Because the Uchiha are masters in Fire-Style Jutsus!"

"You got that right!" Someone says with a chuckle from behind them. Xentall unsheathes his short sword and they both turn around to see three young men with their full Sharingans' showing, "You boys better turn around and head back where you came from."

"We're looking for Sasuke-

"And what does a little kid like you want with him?" The tallest man says, coming nose to nose with Xentall.

"Hokage's orders." He says as he holds up the note, sheathing his short sword back onto his hip. The man takes the note and reads it.

"Take them to see Lord Sasuke." He says as he hands Xentall back the note and walks out of the alleyway.

"Follow us, boys." One of the other men says as they walk past them and lead into a small villa that has flags and tents that bare the Uchiha symbol. The two men guide them to the largest tent that's in the center of the villa, "Through here." He says as he pulls back the tent curtain. Xentall and Kuro walk through and the first sight they see is Viola training with a woman. She gets one look at us and she makes a B-line for them.

"You've got nerve showing up here!" She says as she comes nose to nose with Xentall.

"We're here to see Sasuke. Get out of the way!"

"Why are you here to see my husband?" The woman asks as she places an arm around Viola's shoulders.

"What you have to say to my father you can say to us." Xentall laughs and Kuro just rubs the back of his head.

"Of course he's your dad. Why else would you be this prideful?" Xentall chuckles, "We have to speak with him. Hokage's orders." Xentall holds up the note and Viola's mother snatches it out of his hands. She looks it over and then sighs.

"Follow me." She sighs as she turns around and enters another room that's draped, "Sasuke, two boys are here to see you." A tall man with long, black hair and dark eyes turns around. He looks at them and smirks.

"So you're the infamous boys who summoned that three-headed snake?" He says as he places some pieces of paper onto his desk.

"Shouldn't it have a name?" Kuro asks with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"The three headed snake? You are a Sage of Ryūchi Cave, right?" Sasuke nods as he leans against his desk with his arms crossed. His wife bows and hands Xentall back the note before leaving, "So you should know all of its inhabitants, right?"

"That abomination isn't of Ryūchi Cave." He says with a chuckle.

"What do you mean? We signed the contract Orochimaru use to carry and we summoned a colossal snake."

"You don't use your eyes do you?" Xentall and Kuro both cross their arms, knowing that that was a stab at their Rinnegan, "That snake had the Rinnegan. No snakes from Ryūchi Cave have that."

"Then how did we summon it?"

"You summoned it with one of your paths; The Chikushōdō Path." Xentall and Kuro cock their heads and he just sighs, "This path allows the user to summon various animals and creatures to aid them in battle."

"But the contra-

"You signed a relic! That thing is useless; especially now that it's buried under several tons of rubble." Kuro fights back the urge to cry and Sasuke scoffs, "So, what do you two want?" Xentall holds up the note and he takes it from him, "Oh? Naruto is sending you two to learn how to really summon, huh?"

"Well, he's really only sending me but I requested that my brother came with me." Xentall says as he shifts his weight from one leg to the other.

"If Naruto is only sending you to learn then I'm only teaching you." Sasuke says as he stares at Kuro.

"Please sir; it's been our dream to become Sages of Ryūchi Cave." Kuro says, stepping forward, his voice cracking, "Please teach us." Sasuke smirks as he looks Kuro over.

"Come with me." He says as he slips a very large scroll onto the back of his hip. Kuro smiles at Xentall and he smiles back as they follow Sasuke out of the tent and out of the villa, "We're going to go someplace where you can't cause any more damage to the village." He scoffs as they walk through the main gate and through the woods to a large clearing, "This should be familiar territory? Being raised in the woods and all?" Xentall grinds his teeth and Kuro nudges him with his elbow.

"So what now?" Kuro asks with a skip in his step. Sasuke takes out the scroll and rolls it in front of them.

"Now, we get you two to sign a real contract." He knees in front of the scroll, "Sit." He gestures in front of him and they both knee down on the opposite side of the scroll, "You should know, that once you sign this contract; there's no going back." He looks at them both and sighs, "Though looking at you two, I don't think you're going to want to go back." He chuckles as he flattens out the scroll more, "You know the drill." Xentall nods and he takes out his short sword.

"I can't believe we have to do this again." Kuro wines as Xentall cuts his hand and hands it to Kuro. Kuro takes his short sword and cuts his hand as well, "This sucks!" They both lather their hands and then sign the contract. Sasuke sighs and rolls the contract up.

"The easy part is done, now the hard part." Kuro lets out an uneasy sigh as Sasuke stands up, "Summoning from Ryūchi Cave isn't the same as summoning from Mount Myōboku. When you summon a toad; you make an understanding. You make a friend." He puts the scroll back onto his hip and lets out a sigh, "But when you summon a snake it's varied; I got lucky and managed to make a friend with Aoda; my personal summon. But the others, like Manda, required human sacrifices. Back then it was hard to find a snake worth a Ryūchi Summons' taste due to their attitude. Now it's harder ever since Hakuja Sennin made ties with the Nation of Fire. Many, many more snakes now inhabit Ryūchi Cave; meaning varied personalities. I got lucky with Aoda, Naruto got lucky with Gamabunta and Sakura with Katsuyu."

"You know The White Snake Sage?" Xentall asks, his fists gripped tightly in anticipation.

"How else would I have become a Sage?" He chuckles as he paces in front of them.

"When you two summon your first snake, it has to be your last. The longer you take to find a snake that works for you; the more agitated the other snakes will be."

"Why?" Kuro asks as he's trying to contain his excitement. Sasuke can't help but smile at them. He's never seen someone so excited to summon; he wasn't even that excited when he first summoned Aoda. It was just another way of getting stronger at the time.

"Most of the snakes are stubborn, selfish and sometimes even kill the people who summon them; thinking they're not strong enough." Kuro and Xentall's excitement plummets and Sasuke laughs.

"So—how do we make sure to summon the _right_ snake?" Xentall asks as he runs his fingers through his hair.

"Well, it varies on the person, really." Xentall glares at him with a cocked head, "You can summon the right one in a time of panic, or in a time of peace. Like I said, the snakes are very diverse now. Which means it takes either a similar or opposite ninja to control him or her.

"I've had enough of this!" Xentall yells as he starts to do hand seals.

"No wai-!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" Xentall slams his palm onto the ground and large, black encrypted circles appear under Xentall's feet. A large smoke cloud appears and the ground shakes. Sasuke grabs Kuro and jumps away before the snake fully emerges. When they land a few yards away a loud hiss echoes through the wind and they look behind themselves they see a coiled figure with red scales.

"Oh no." Sasuke shudders as he grips Kuro to protect him.

"_Oh no?_ What do you mean _oh no_? I don't like the sound of that!" Kuro stammers in horror.

"He's summoned Ryuu." Sasuke gasps as he loosens his grip on Kuro, "You might not have a brother very soon, kid."

Xentall is trying to steady himself onto of the snakes head but stumbles. He grips onto something wide and rock like. The hissing gets louder as the smoke starts to clear. Xentall looks at his feet and sees a wide, black diamond and the rest are red scales. He looks to the thing his gripping on and sees it's a horn.

"Who's on my head?" A deep but feminine voice demands with a blood curdling hiss. Xentall remains silent and he can hear other voices but can't make out what they're saying, "Answer me or I'll swallow you whole!"

"Xen—Xentall Yutaka. I—I summoned you." Xentall stutters. This is scarier than he thought. Especially since this one can talk and it's a legitimate snake from Ryūchi Cave. Xentall wasn't prepared for this.

"Xentall Yutaka? What kind of name is that?" The snake laughs, her hiss deafening.

"What's your name?" Xentall manages to choke out, relieved that no one else can see him shaking in his boots.

"You haven't earned my name or the right to summon me!" She starts to thrash and Xentall hangs onto her horn with an iron grip.

"XENTALL!" Kuro yells from the ground, seeing Ryuu thrash her head about to get him off of her. She stops and looks down to see both Sasuke and Kuro standing a few yards away from her.

"Well, well, well. We have company." She hisses as she lowers her head to get a better look, "Well if it isn't the mighty Sage himself; Sasuke Uchiha."

"Good to see you too, Ryuu." Sasuke stammers, putting and arm in front of Kuro to protect him.

"I'll talk to you in a minute; I have a parasite to eat." She roars as she continues to thrash her head about, "Get off of my head or I slam you into the nearest mountain!"

"Ryuu, that's one of my students!" Sasuke yells, his Sharingan showing, "Let him speak! Or I send Aoda onto you!" Ryuu stops shaking her head and glares down at Sasuke.

"You dare-?"

"Let. Him. Speak." Sasuke says sternly, Kuro silently crying behind him. Ryuu remains still, her tail swaying anxiously.

"You've got one minute—Xentall." She hisses, baring her fangs. Xentall takes a few deep breaths and centers himself on her head.

"I am Xentall Yutaka, son of Konan and Nagato Yutaka! Future Sage of Ryūchi Cave!" Xentall stomps on her head, making her hiss loudly, "And you _will_ be my summon!" Xentall demands, stomping his foot on her head again.

"That's a bad idea." Sasuke whispers to himself. Kuro stares at Xentall with utter fear.

"Mom is going to kill us. And then kill us again." He whispers, tears rolling down his cheeks. Ryuu remains silent, her tail causing small tremors.

"And one more thing!" Xentall says, as he jumps down onto her snout so he can be in her sight. He then rips his bandages off of his head, revealing his Rinnegan, "I am not some weak, novice ninja!" Ryuu's hissing gets more intense and Xentall keeps from cowering. The scales around her eyes and lips are also black. Her eyes are an intense green and when they meet Xentall's eyes; it makes his skin crawl. Ryuu stops her tail and her hissing stops.

"What's going on?" Kuro whimpers, looking around Sasuke to get a better look.

"That eye. How did you come to gain such a gift?" Ryuu asks, her eyes narrowing.

"My father gave it to me—to us." Xentall looks down at Kuro and Ryuu follows his line of sight.

"Move aside Sasuke. I want to see the other child." Ryuu hisses, her fangs protruding over her lower lip. Sasuke moves aside; revealing a scared to death Kuro whose eyes and nose are red from crying too much, "Show me your eye." She demands. Kuro undoes his bandages and then moves aside his hair that's covering his left eye to reveal his Rinnegan. Ryuu hisses as she straightens her head and glares at Xentall, "You—are a weak ninja, and you have a lot to learn about the real world; and other worlds." She says, her voice getting lower, "I am Ryuu; Dragon of Ryūchi Cave. And if I am to be your summon, Xentall, I have a few rules." Xentall nods and she coils herself lower to the ground, making Sasuke and Kuro easier to see, "First rule is; do not summon me unless you absolutely have to."

"Make an exception for tomorrow." Sasuke demands, "We're doing this so he has something to do tomorrow that won't be too dangerous during The Academy Ceremony."

"You're meaning to tell me he doesn't know any other jutsus?" Ryuu hisses loudly, staring straight into Xentall's soul.

"None that the Lord Hokage deems safe." Sasuke says before Xentall says something wrong.

"And you think I'm a safe alternative?" Ryuu chuckles, looking down at Sasuke.

"Yes, because you're going to behave yourself!" Xentall says as he walks closer to Ryuu's face, "I'm going to summon you tomorrow, you're going to remain still and not hurt anyone!" Ryuu bares her fangs and hisses; her roar echoing through the forest.

"You think I'm stupid, boy? Konohagakure and Ryūchi Cave are allies now. I will not do anything to jeopardize that! And that leads to my second rule; you have not earned to right to make demands or requests of me!" Xentall crosses his arms as she continues to talk, "Third rule; whenever you do summon me, you bring me up to speed on the events and then _I_ tell you what to do. Once you've earned my respect _and_ trust; then we can make out another deal."

"Anything else?" Xentall asks, trying to hurry this along before he pukes all over her nose.

"One more thing; you will address me as Ryuu-_sama_. Again; once you've earned my respect and trust we'll discuss that. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, of course—Ryuu-sama." Xentall bows his head and Ryuu laughs.

"A true pleasure Xentall." She lowers her head onto the ground and Xentall jumps down next to Sasuke who immediately wraps his arm around him. Ryuu disappears in a cloud of smoke and Xentall falls to his knees and vomits.

"You got some serious backbone kid!" Sasuke laughs as he and Kuro rub his back. Xentall continues to vomit as Kuro starts to wipe away his tears.

"Your—your turn." Xentall says between gags. Trying to stand up but just ends up falling onto his knees again.

"I'd rather wait and see how Ryuu holds up your deal." Kuro says with a hefty sigh.

"Coward." Xentall laughs as Sasuke helps him up, "So is there anything else I need to learn?" Xentall ask as Sasuke straightens him up.

"One more thing." Xentall raises an eyebrow and Sasuke sighs, "You just made a deal with one of the most dangerous colossal snakes in all of Ryūchi Cave besides Manda, The White Sage Snake and my own Aoda. She's bad news Xentall; she turned on her last deal."

"Why?" Kuro asks, gripping his brother's shoulder tightly in defense.

"The last person to summon her lost a fight and she ate him. Said he was too weak to summon her anymore. You best not lose too many fights in her presence." He sighs as he points at Kuro, "Or you're going to be an only child." Kuro shudders and Xentall just remains silent, too sick and tired to comment, "Alright, so you found yourself a snake on the first try. Now you have to learn about her."

"And how do I do that?" Xentall asks and Kuro sits him down near a fallen tree due to Ryuu. Sasuke unrolls the contract on his hip again and does hand seals. He slams his palm onto the contract and a smaller scroll appears in his hands.

"With this." He says as he places the scroll in Xentall's hands, "These days summoning contracts come with this—informational scrolls about its land and inhabitants ever since Ryūchi Cave and Shikkotsu Forest; home of the slug Katsuyu and her children, expanded to the Land of Fire and gained more land." Xentall looks at it and it's almost as thick as his hand, "Read that after tomorrow so you know what you're dealing with." He points at Kuro and smiles, "And on Tuesday, you two are to meet me back here; because it'll be your turn to summon kid." He looks them both in the eyes and smiles, "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks again." Sasuke nods and stands up, "See you on Tuesday."

"See you then." He turns around and walks back towards the village, leaving the brothers in the clearing to recuperate.

"That was insane Xen. That snake was so big I think it could reach up and kiss all the foreheads from the Hokage Monument!" Kuro laughs as he slings Xentall's arm around his shoulder and helps him up, "I thought you were going to pee your pants!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not like you; a crybaby who pees on himself." Xentall says with a lethargic sigh.

"How many times do I have to tell you? That was one time, stop bring it up!" Kuro whines as he helps his brother walk back into the village, "Am I ever going to live that down?"

"Nope, you'll live with that the rest of your life." Xentall chuckles before letting out a big yawn, "I don't know if I'm exhausted because summoning Ryuu took all the chakra I have or because I almost died and puked."

"I think it's a little bit of both Xen." He sighs as they walk through the village, people closing down their stores with strange signs. They walk up to the nearest store where the owner is locking up her store, "Excuse me miss, why is everyone closing so early?"

"Because of the Graduation Ceremony tomorrow." She says as she turns around. She then gets a good look at them and she runs away screaming.

"Yeah, not like that hurt our feelings or anything!" Xentall roars as Kuro sighs and hikes his brother's arm up on his shoulder before walking down to their home. The sun is at its peak in the sky and kids can be heard playing in the small park clearing, "That's where all The Academy students hang out."

"We need to get you home Xen."

"I'm o.k.!" Xentall pushes his brother off of him and manages to stand up straight, "I want to see my competition." He grunts as he dusts himself off before walking towards the park.

"At least put your bandages back on!" He yells, running in front of Xentall and wrapping the bandages around his head to cover his eye. Xentall pushes him aside when he's done and Kuro follows close behind while he tightens his own bandages, "And what do you mean by, _competition_?"

"Well from what I understand; a student doesn't graduate if the people don't think he or she is strong enough. So I want to see if any of them will show us the jutsu they're going to perform."

"Makes sense; although when you summon Ryuu tomorrow the people might just say no out of spite."

"Then they'll do the same to you as well." Kuro actually smiles at that realization.

"I wouldn't mind being held back; learning from the beginning." Xentall comes nose to nose with his brother; his eyes wide with anger.

"Well I'm not going to get held back and allow all these other kids to get ahead of me! That'll be an embarrassment to our family AND they'll all think they're stronger than me."

"Well judging from the fact that no one else can summon; I doubt they'll think they're stronger than you."

"What do you mean no one else here can perform a summoning jutsu?" A young girl with long, blonde hair but pale eyes asks with her arms crossed, "I can summon too."

"Who are you?" Xentall grunts, Kuro extending an arm out in front of his brother.

"I'm Chessa Uzumaki." Xentall's eyes widen and Kuro's jaw locks up, "I'm a future Sage of Mount Myōboku."

"Well we're future Sages of Ryūchi Cave!" Xentall yells, Kuro holding him back

"Snake lovers, huh?" She chuckles as she crosses her arms, "Who's your summon?"

"Ryuu; Dragon of Ryuchi Cave."

"I don't have one yet, after what just happened with Xen, I want to wait."

"Smart move; Snakes aren't as kind and loving as Toads." She smirks, uncrossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips.

"Who's your summon?" Xentall asks, relaxing himself.

"Gamaken; the Graceful."

"You mean that toad that keeps saying his clumsy?" Kuro laughs along with Xentall.

"You know of him?" She takes a step closer to them, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Our mother told us a lot of what happened when—our father-

"That's none of her business Kuro!" Xentall yells, slapping the back of his head.

"Well she asked-

"No, he's right. It's none of my business." They look at her with cocked heads and she just smiles, "I don't hold a grudge against your family unlike everyone else. My father told me what your father did; the bad—and the good."

"Why are you talking to them?" Naoko asks, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Because they're friends." She sighs, taking his arm off of her, "I don't need you to protect me."

"We're cousins, it's what family does!" Xentall comes nose to nose with Naoko and he can hear a large crowd of kids gathering around them.

"Then maybe I should kick you into the ground for what you and your buddies did to my brother! Because, you know, it's what family does!" Naoko's veins around his eyes show through and his pupils become intense.

"Just try it!" Chessa comes between them along with Kuro; trying to push them away from each other, "You'll never become a Shinnobi of the Leaf! I'll make sure you never graduate tomorrow!"

"Why wait? I'm right here!" Xentall yells as he grips his short sword.

"What your father did to our village will never be undone!"

"What my father did was save your village!"

"After he destroyed it!" Xentall pushes Kuro aside and jumps onto Naoko, taking out his short sword and stabbing it into the ground next to his head. Everyone gasps and Naoko stares into Xentall's eye with anger and fear. They both lay there; frozen like statues.

"I don't give a damn what you guys think about my father. I really don't. But what I do care about is you all taking your hatred out on us. We had nothing to do with the attack my father made on your village! And that snake incident; that's all it was, an accident. We didn't mean to scare you all." Naoko keeps his glare on Xentall while he keeps talking, "We're here; living among you. Not because we want revenge or—or finish what my father started! We're here because we're tired of living in fear. We're tired of living out in the woods where no one can find us and hurt us. We want the same thing you want." Xentall pulls his sword out of the ground and sheaths it. He stands up and helps Naoko up, "We want to live in peace." Chessa and Naoko' sister go in front of him and Kuro runs in front of Xentall.

"Brother, we have no beef with them."

"Be quiet Naomi. This is between me and him."

"We're done here, Naoko. I don't want to fight." Xentall sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. Kuro eyes widen and he actually holds him in place.

"Are you serious dude? You always want to fight." Kuro asks. His eyes searching Xentall's; trying to read what he's thinking, "Was Ryuu really that bad?"

"I don't want to fight Kuro." Xentall tries to hold back tears, but one rolls down his cheek, "I'm tired of living in fear. What happened to us in the woods, what could happen to us if we do decide to stay. I want friends, not enemies." Kuro nods and he lets Xentall past him.

"We're not done here!" Naoko yells, his sister and cousin holding him back.

"Yes you are Naoko. Dad will kill you if he finds out you started a fight." Naomi yells as she pushes him back.

"And Naruto will be mad as hell too. He promised their mom they wouldn't come to any harm." Chessa says as she helps Naomi push him back.

"Kuro, let's go home." Xentall says as he pats his back. Kuro nods and joins his side.

"I'll see you tomorrow! We'll see who graduates!" Naoko yells as they both walk back home, "We'll all see what you've got!" Xentall scoffs as they turn out of the park and walk back home.

"I can't believe you turned down a fight."

"Yeah, me neither." He slaps Kuro on the back of the head and Kuro stares at him, "Don't ever let me turn down a fight again. You understand?"

"Yeah, o.k., next time you back down from a fight I'll just turn you around and kick your butt forward." Kuro says with a sarcastic chuckle, "Last time I tried to force you to do something I ended up with a broken arm."

"Well I promise to not do that." Xentall says as they walk up the stairs to their home.

"You got that scroll on Ryuu, right?"

"Of course! I'm going to want to know everything about her, least I become her next meal!" Xentall says as he holds up the scroll.

"Good, because I don't think I'm going to go through with it." Xentall then grabs Kuro by the shirt collar, slams him against the wall and stares him in the eyes.

"You're such a coward! What's your dream?"

"I don't—what are-?"

"WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?!" Xentall yells in his face; nose to nose.

"I want become a Sage of Ryuchi Cave!" Kuro says as tears well up in his eyes.

"Then you're going to summon a snake, get stronger, and we'll both gain passage to The Cave. And be trained to become Sages!" He shakes him a few times and then let's go, "I just faced a colossal Snake. I'm pretty sure you can do the same!" Kuro nods again as he wipes his tears, "Now let's go home." He opens the door and sees Konan sitting on the couch with Hinata and Naruto is sitting on a chair across the coffee table, "What's going on here?" Xentall demands, glaring at Naruto.

"Xen, I thought you would be gone longer." Konan says as she stands up, "Naruto and his wife will be joining us for dinner." She says as she looks down in shame, "How—how was it with Sasuke?"

"Summoned a snake, Kuro will be doing it Tuesday." Xentall says as he stares down Naruto, "Why will they be joining us for dinner?"

"We want to get to know each other better." Naruto says with a warm smile. Xentall looks down and sighs. He then walks back out the door and slams it shut; leaving Kuro behind.

"So—what's for dinner?" Kuro asks, shifting his weight from one leg to the next. Konan lets out a shaky sigh; chocking down tears.

"Chicken with rice and eggs." Konan says as she walks to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about Xentall. He's-

"No need to explain, Kuro. I understand." Naruto says with a nod.

"We ran into your daughter before arriving; Chessa?"

"Really?" Hinata asks, shooting up from her seat.

"Yeah, she and Xen talked about their summons." Naruto chuckles and Kuro glares at him as he sits down next to Hinata, "What's funny?"

"I just remember the first time she summoned Gamaken. It was so funny. They talked for hours; thought they'd never stop." Hinata laughs along with him.

"That was the best day of her life." Hinata whispers, "Anything else happen?"

"If you're asking me if they fought; they didn't. In fact, she defended Xen along with Naomi when Naoko tried to pick a fight with him." Hinata lets out an easy sigh of relief and Naruto laughs.

"Hinata, sweetheart, if Chessa and Xentall really did have a fight, we'd be seeing a Gamaken and—?" He gestures at Kuro and he raises his eyebrows, "What's Xentall's summon?"

"Her name is Ryuu."

"Right, we'd be seeing Gamaken and Ryuu fighting alongside them. But from what you said; seems like they're actually friends."

"No, more like acquaintances. Xen sees her as competition; he sees everyone at The Academy as competition." Naruto sighs and Konan starts cooking the dinner, "I should probably go and find him." Kuro sighs as he stands up.

"No. Just let him be. Maybe a few hours alone he'll actually think clearly," Konan sighs as she stirs the rice, "He'll be fine."

Xentall runs down the main road and out of the main gates. He jumps into the forest and arrives at the clearing where he summoned Ryuu. He examines the crater she made as he walks to the center of it and sits down. The sun starts to set and the forest comes alive. He takes out the scroll on Ryuu and unrolls it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06

Graduation! The joining of Squad 4!

Xentall starts to read the scroll and in the first few sentences is very confused on the information it's giving.

Ryūchi Cave; home of the Colossal Snakes. Only a few of these snakes have earned the title of _Dragon_, either through birth rite or training with The Great White Snake; the first Dragon of Ryūchi Cave. Ryuu has earned her horns through her father; Manda. Very early on in her training with Hakuja Sennin; she displayed the same personality of her father, but also the tenderness, loyalty and understanding of her mother; Melinda. Xentall lays the scroll down on his lap and thinks for a moment.

"Maybe if I can summon her mother I can get a better understanding about Ryuu." He sits there in thought, "But how will I know if I've summoned her?" He grips the sides of the scroll in anger, "How will I know if she's nice? Will she kill me?" He grabs his head in frustration and screams into the sky, "God damn it!" He stands up and does hand seals, "Summoning Jutsu!" He slams both palms onto the ground and a large cloud of smoke appears. He's lifted into the air and a low hiss sends shivers up his spine.

"Who has summoned me?" Xentall jumps down onto the snout of the snake and is met with deep blue eyes. He looks over the snout and sees that this snake isn't as big as Ryuu but also has red scales with the same black eyes and lips along with the large diamond on her forehead. But then a cobra's hood emerges and the snake hisses in agitation, "Who are you?"

"I'm Xentall. Are you—Melinda?" The snake lowers her head and her eyes glare into his.

"So, you're the boy who's summoned my daughter?"

"Are you going to eat me?" Melinda laughs and lowers her head for him to jump down. Xentall jumps onto the ground and she coils around him and then rests her head right next to him.

"Take a seat, child." Xentall remains still, he feels his stomach churning and muscles are frozen stiff, "I'm not going to eat you, child." She chuckles as she faces Xentall. He manages to sit down and she sighs, "Why have you summoned me?"

"To be honest, I didn't think I could summon you. I'm still new to this." He blurts out in fear.

"You don't have to think so hard. You wanted to summon me, so you did." She sighs slowly. Xentall's muscles start to relax but his stomach is still twisting itself in knots.

"I want to get to know your daughter; things that this scroll can't tell me." He says as he rolls the scroll back up. She chuckles under her breath and her tongue wiggles out of her mouth like all snakes do.

"That child of mine is so much like her father; brutish, self-centered and stubborn. Thinks she's the strongest out of all of us."

"I thought Manda was killed?"

"You can't kill a summon in your world. All summons can only be killed in their respected worlds." Xentall nods in understanding and she laughs, "When Manda got word that Orochimaru was killed he nearly destroyed the cave. Said killing Orochimaru was his job."

"So what can you tell me about Ryuu?"

"She's a dragon; like her father."

"How does that work? How does a snake become a dragon?"

"They must be trained by the Master Sage; even if they are born with horns because one or both of their parents is a dragon. If the Master Sage deems them worth they earn horns or are allowed to keep them. If not they don't get any or their horns are removed by the Sage himself."

"That's it; just horns?" Xentall asks with a cocked head.

"Once you earn your horns you can grow even stronger and earn limbs, or even wings. The Great White Snake has all of these traits but chooses to conceal them. We'll never know why though."

"Will she—kill me?" Xentall chokes out; feeling like he's about to puke again.

"I doubt it. She only ate one person; the person who first summoned her." She hisses, tightening her coils; acting like a barrier between Xentall and the rest of the world.

"Why did she eat him?"

"He was in a fight. He summoned her and during the fight she was almost killed in your world. She managed to eat him before the other Shinnobi killed him; saying it's only fair that she be the one to kill him since it was his fault she was so badly wounded." Melinda chuckles, her hood flattening around her neck.

"So Sasuke is right, I can't ever lose a fight in front of her unless I want to be eaten." Xentall says with a shudder.

"No child, she'll only eat you if you make her look weak. To her, image is everything. If the other snakes and dragons think she is weak she'll be embarrassed to show her face at The Cave." She looks at Xentall with gentle eyes and smile, "Is there anything else you wish to ask of me?" Xentall looks down in thought and then a wide smile appears on his face.

"I have a brother who's going to try and summon his own snake pretty soon. Do you think you could find one for him? He's as strong as me, has the Rinnegan as well. But he's very—weak emotionally. He cries—a lot!" Melinda chuckles as she lifts her head off of the ground and looks down at Xentall.

"I'll see what I can do." She hisses soothingly, uncoiling herself from around Xentall, "Is that all?" Xentall nods and she smiles as she lowers her head until her snout is inches away from Xentall's face, "I will leave you with this. Obey Ryuu and listen to what she says. It'll be a slow process but she'll warm up to you; and when she does. She'll be a _fierce _friend and ally." Xentall nods and Melinda disappears in a cloud of smoke. Xentall stands there for a moment before vomiting. He falls onto his knees and holds his hair back before puking again. He stands back up and wipes his mouth with a groan.

"That sucked. Why do I keep puking after I summon? I didn't puke when I summoned that three headed snake!" He grumbles to himself as he walks back into the village, "At least Melinda will help Kuro with his summon. Hopefully she'll find one kind and gentle." He walks up the stairs and into his home where he sees Naruto and Hinata eating dinner with his family.

"Xentall!" Konan says as she shoots up from her seat and walks over to him, "Are you o.k. sweetie? You look dreadful!" She asks as she places her hand on his forehead, "You don't feel hot but-

"Mom, I'm fine." Xentall says as he removes her hand from his forehead, "I'm just hungry." She smiles as she walks him to the dinner table next to Kuro. Naruto and Hinata are across the table and Konan is at one of the ends. Kuro pushes a plate of steaming hot rice mixed with chicken and eggs, a cup of warm tea and a side of dumplings, "I didn't know you could make dumplings, mom?"

"I can't, Mrs. Uzumaki can." Xentall looks at Hinata and she smiles.

"Thanks Hinata sensei." Xentall says before he stuffs a dumping in his mouth and his eyes widen and a wide smile appears on his face, "These are delicious!" He then takes a sip of his tea and starts to eat the chicken and rice. Both Kuro and Konan stare at him with wide eyes and cocked heads as Naruto and Hinata join him in eating.

"Something wrong Ms. Yutaka?" Naruto asks as he takes a sip of his tea. She looks at Naruto with the same look she's giving Xentall and he just laughs, "Maybe he did clear his head while he was alone?" He chuckles as he winks at Konan.

"Dude, what's the matter with you? Are you sick or something?" Kuro asks as he leans close to Xentall's ear, "You're never this polite." Xentall swallows a mouth full of rice and eggs and sighs in relief.

"I'm just—happy." He sighs before sticking another dumpling in his mouth, "Oh my god. You have to teach my mom how to make these!" Xentall moans as he chews on it, "They're so good I could die happy." Hinata and Naruto laugh as Konan tries one of the dumplings and can't help but beg Hinata the same thing.

The laughing and good times go until midnight when Naruto and Hinata have to head back home. They wave good bye as they walk out the doors. Xentall and Kuro are lying on the couch from opposite sides; their heads together and Konan is doing the dishes. They're both rubbing their stomachs with wide smiles and Konan looks at them from time to time. She can't help but think that tomorrow will be great. After tonight nothing could possibly go wrong.

Konan walks down the short hallway; between her son's bedrooms where she can hear them sound asleep. She walks into her room and sees the two headbands that are meant for them tomorrow. As she lies down in her bed, she can't help but wonder why Naruto is giving them headbands with the Rain symbol. After her fight with Madara she went underground; leaving the Rain Village defenseless. After her sons were born she went back but there was nothing but the Great Lake. The village was destroyed and there was no sign of any structure or villager. Amegakure doesn't exist anymore. She pulls the covers over herself and stares at the ceiling fan.

"I hope everything goes swimmingly tomorrow. The boys really need a good day." She mumbles to herself as she lets the ceiling fan's slow rotation lull her to sleep.

The next morning Konan his shaken awake and when she opens her eyes Xentall is shaking her and yelling her name. She looks ahead and sees Kuro with his arms crossed and a frown glued on his face.

"Mom, Wake up!" Xentall yells as he keeps shaking her. She pushes him off and groans, "We're going to be late if you don't get up!" She yawns as she stretches and slowly stands up.

"What time is it?" She mumbles as she starts to put on her clothes.

"Ten in the morning; the Graduation Ceremony starts at eleven-thirty." Kuro grumbles under his breath. She cocks her head as she zips up her flak jacket.

"Something wrong, sweetie?"

"He's still mad that he's graduating only after two days." Xentall chuckles as he leans on the other side of her doorway.

"If I remember correctly; you said that it's only one day since we skipped on the first day we went." He sighs, "It's just unfair."

"Oh, stop being so modest sweetie. You and your brother are strong enough to be a Chūnin." She chuckles as she places a hand on Kuro's cheek, "It's sweet to be modest. But it's bad to lie to yourself. Learn to be proud of your strength and power." She walks to the door and slips on her boots, "So, where is the Ceremony being held?"

"In a clearing; behind the Hokage Monument. If he we hurry, we can get there in time to see the others performing their jutsus!" Xentall yells as he runs out of the door with his brother. They jump onto the roof of the other side of their building while their mother locks their door. She then jumps next to them as she ties her headband on her forehead; stashing the other two in a pocket of her flak jacket.

"Ready to become Genin?" She asks as she places a hand on both of their heads. Kuro and Xentall both look at her with wide grins. She smiles back and they then make their way to the Ceremony.

When they make it to the Ceremony Naruto waves them down. He's behind a crowd that's full of Academy Students. As they walk up to Naruto, Xentall looks to his left and sees at least seven bleachers formed in a semi-circle that is full of parents and other villagers; as others gather around the bleachers.

"Glad you three can make it!" He laughs as he places a shoulder on Konan, "Are they ready?" She nods with a smile and he nods his head at Xentall and Kuro to join the others. They walk to the back and stand with the others; waiting to be called.

"Can I ask you something?" Konan asks with a shaky sigh. Naruto raises an eyebrow at her and she lets out another sigh, "Why are you giving us headbands with the Rain symbol? Last time I checked; Amegakure was erased." Naruto places a hand on her shoulder with a warm smile. This only makes Konan's muscles tense.

"All in due time, Konan." He grips her shoulder softly and her muscles start to relax, "You'll see what I have planned. And when you do, you'll be happier than you ever have been. I promise you." He then leads her to a line of Jōnin; she stands between Hinata and Rock Lee while Shikamaru is at the far right and two more unknown Jōnin are to her far left. Naruto then weaves through the crowd of Academy students and he gains the attention of all the spectators, "Welcome everyone, to The Graduation Ceremony of Genin!" The people clap and cheer. Xentall lets out a sigh of anxiety as Naruto starts to call off names and one by one, kids walk up and perform their jutsu. Xentall then feels a tug on his arm and when he looks to his left he sees Riu with a wide smile.

"Hey! You finally made it!" She whispers with glee, "Are you excited?"

"Hell yeah, I am! How about you?" She nods excitedly and she then cocks her head around Xentall to see Kuro.

"How about him, is he o.k.?"

"He's still upset that he hasn't learned anything." He chuckles. He then hears Viola's name being called and his eyes shoot ahead to see what she does. Viola steps forward and claps her hands together. She then starts to do hand seals and stops on the Tiger Seal.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" She then looks upwards and spits purple fire into the air. People gawk at her jutsu and Xentall can't help but be awed as well. Then then burst and simmer like fireworks and people clap; especially people from the Uchiha Clan. Xentall looks at her and she scoffs in his direction as she joins the lineup of the students who have already performed.

The day goes by slowly as student by student slowly performs their jutsu. Riu is then called; leaving Xentall, Kuro and two others behind. Xentall and Kuro watch attentively as she just stands there in a stance; her fists clenched tightly.

"Any time now, Riu." A teacher says with a sigh. Chakra then starts to form around her legs and forearms. She then stomps her foot into the ground and pieces of earth fly into the air. She jumps and breaks them all with her fists and feet with incredible speed and accuracy. She lands on the ground with nothing but dust from the rocks slowly falling into the wind. The crowd claps and Xentall's mouth is agape.

"She's amazing." Kuro whispers to Xentall. He looks at his brother and chuckles as he closes his mouth.

"I barely saw her hands and feet. I didn't know she used Taijutsu." Xentall whispers to himself. The last two students have performed and Kuro's name is being called.

"Kuro Yutaka, please perform your jutsu." Kuro slowly walks forward and presents himself to the teacher's and Naruto. He takes a deep breath and starts to do hand seals.

"Origami Art: Shikigami Dance!" Kuro's body then slowly disappears and thousands of sheets of paper pull away from his body and form a twister; causing the ground to shake and the wind to pick up. People start to clap as Kuro slowly reappears on the ground; the sheets of paper reforming his body. Xentall looks at Konan who has tears welling up in her eyes. She's so proud of her son. Kuro joins the lineup of students; next to Riu.

"Xentall Yutaka, please step forward and perform your jutsu." Naruto says with a warm smile. Xentall slowly steps forward, his heart pounding in his chest. He starts to take short, hurried breaths. He stands still and looks among the crowd, eyes of fear and anticipation glued to him. He straightens his shoulders and takes a deep breath, "Whenever you're ready, Mr. Yutaka." Xentall bites his right thumb and smears the blood across his left palm. He then starts to do hand seals and slams both palms onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" The ground then starts to shake as a large cloud of smoke erupts from under Xentall. A low hiss emerges from the smoke as Xentall centers himself on her head. People start to stand up but no one is screaming, or running. The smoke clears and Ryuu is visible. She coils herself so she's lower to the ground and she lowers her head even further, making sure Xentall is visible to the crowd. Xentall can see people getting uneasy so he jumps onto her snout and turns around to face her, "Tell them you mean no harm." She hisses lowly and then sees Naruto glaring at both of them.

"People of Konohagakure. I, Ryuu of Ryūchi Cave, mean you no harm." She hisses lowly. People start to sit back down and she locks her eyes onto Xentall, "I have held up my end of the bargain. Now don't ever summon me again unless you absolutely need me, understood?" Xentall nods and he jumps down next to Kuro who pats his back. Ryuu then disappears and people clap as Naruto walks in the center of the field to make an announcement.

"Now that we have seen what are students are capable of, we will now place the few that are worthy to be called Genin; into their teams lead by our Jōnin! So—Jōnin, please present the headbands for your future students!" The people start to clap and cheer as Xentall and Kuro's mother line up behind Naruto along with the rest of the Jōnin and take out three headbands and balance them on their forearms, "For Squad One, with their Sensei Shikamaru Nara; Ms. Arata Hiroshi, Ms. Chessa Uzumaki and Mr. Sachi Kira!" Naruto says as he claps along with the others. The three students step forward and receive their headbands from Shikamaru.

"As Jōnin of The Hidden Leaf I hereby swear to do my duty to this village and her people. To teach and protect my students, my squad, with my life." Shikamaru says with his head held high. The people clap again and the three students stand behind him.

"For Squad Two, with their Sensei Rock Lee; Mr. Eiji Momoiji, Ms. Nana Dotou and Mr. Gumo Aburame." The people clap and the students collect their headbands then stand behind him. Xentall notices that the girl, Nana, is dressed in the same green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers and bandages around her hands and forearms; just like her new Sensei Rock Lee. The only thing different is her hair; where it looks like a bowl cut in the front but two, long ponytails in the back. Xentall almost falls to his knees laughing.

"As Jōnin of The Hidden Leaf I hereby swear to do my duty to this village and her people. To teach and protect my students, my squad, with my life." Lee says as he straightens himself and salutes with a wide green. Nana does the same salute behind him and Xentall covers his mouth to keep from laughing.

Squad Three which is led by Hinata has Naoko and Naomi and one more guy named Yasuo Aki. He sulks the entire way to Hinata and when he takes his headband he hurries behind her and hides himself. Both Kuro and Xentall cock their heads at him.

"I don't even remember what his jutsu was." Xentall mumbles in Kuro's ear.

"He did nothing; he just stood there." Kuro whispers back.

"For Squad Four, with their Sensei Konan Yutaka; Mr. Kuro Yutaka, Mr. Xentall Yutaka and Ms. Riu Arashi." Xentall passes by Naruto and he stops him before he reaches his mother, "Give your mother this and tell her to say this instead of her oath." He whispers in his ear as he gives him a piece of paper. Xentall walks up to his mother and puts the note in her hand as he reaches for his headband.

"Naruto wants you to say this instead of your oath." He whispers to Konan. She nods as he takes his headband and walks behind her next to his brother, "Figures she'd be a part of our squad." He says as he grips his headband. He looks at Kuro who's running his fingers over his headband, "What?" Xentall looks at his and sees the Rain symbol. His eyes widen and he runs his fingers over it, "What is this?" Riu bumps into him with a grin that reaches from ear to ear. Konan looks at the piece of paper and smile gets glued onto her face.

"As Jōnin of—The Hidden Rain I hereby swear to do my duty to uphold the alliance between Konohagakure and Amegakure. To protect and teach my students, my squad, with my life." She says before a tear rolls down her cheek. Kuro elbows Xentall to get his attention and when he looks at him, he sees that the bandages covering his Rinnegan have been removed and is replaced by his headband. Xentall smiles and does the same with pride. He then looks over at Riu who stares at her headband with a frown. Xentall cocks his head in confusion and she looks up at him and instantly smiles. But instead of applause, the crowd whispers amongst themselves and that makes Xentall's skin crawl with anger. Naruto and the other Jōnin are the only ones that clap.

The rest of the Ceremony went by quick. Squad Five is led by a Jōnin Xentall doesn't recognize named Azami Saiko and has the other three kids that are friends with Eiji; Two boys named Oasmu Daichi and Oka Kira along with the girl Tadoa Makoto who looks like she's supposed to be in a beauty pageant. And Squad Six is led by Viola's mother; Karen Uchiha. Viola, along with two boys who are also Uchiha named Kazuno and Haku make up the squad.

The Ceremony ends with one last applause from the parents of the kids who did graduate while the others were held back. Xentall and Kuro hug their mother while Riu walks up to Naruto and tugs on his sleeve.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage?" Naruto looks down and smiles. He knees down and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes Ms. Arashi?"

"I want a headband from the Rain village instead." Naruto cocks his head with a frown.

"Why? You're not of their village."

"We both know that the village I hail from is unknown. I have no family in this village or any other. I don't want to be the odd one in my squad. And since I'm in a squad with three ninjas from Amegakure; I want to represent them as well." Naruto looks down for a second and then smiles as he looks her in the eyes.

"Very well, if you'll come with me I'll get you one." He stands up and guides her back to Konan, "I'll be taking this one with me for a second. I hope you don't mind?"

"Of course not, we'll be near The Great River. Come and find us when you're done, o.k. Riu?" Konan says with a warm smile.

"Yes sensei." She chuckles. The word sensei makes both Konan and Riu smile. Naruto looks at the twins and a wide grin appears on his face.

"How do you like the headbands boys?" Xentall and Kuro look at him with wide grins. They open their mouths to say something but don't know what to say; they're so excited they can't find the words, "I see, well you're welcome nonetheless. Ms. Arashi and I will only be a minute." He then guides her down a pair of stairs that leads to his office while the rest of Squad Four jump down the monument and walk into the forest, heading towards The Great River.

"So, you two excited?" Konan asks as she wraps her arms around their shoulders.

"I'm so pumped! I can't wait to start training and going on missions!" Kuro says with a spring in his step. Konan looks down and Xentall who has a frown on his face.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I'd be happier if it was just the three of us. Why does she have to be a part of our squad? She's not of the Hidden Rain!"

"No one truly is of the Hidden rain besides the three of us. Our village was destroyed long ago; all of its villagers along with it." Konan says as she shakes him playfully, "You can't excommunicate someone just because they hail from a different village. Most of the great nations are allies now."

"And what about the lesser nations, like us?" Kuro asks, the wide grin still on his face.

"Well, we obviously have an alliance with the Land of Fire. So that means all the allies of The Leaf Village are our allies too!" They then walk out of the tree line and are met with the roar of a waterfall and the soothing sound of running water, "Alright, we wait here until Riu joins us." Konan says with a sigh.

"Well I'm already here so let's get started!" Riu cheers as she jumps out of the tree line and runs up to Konan, "I just wanted to change my headband!" She says as she shows off her headband that is tied around her neck. Konan and Kuro chuckle as they see it but it sends Xentall into a blinding rage. He runs up to her and grabs the headband; pulling her close.

"You're not of the Rain! You're of the Leaf! Take that off before I rip it off! What would your parents think if they saw you wearing _this_ instead of _their _nation's symbol?" Riu stares at Xentall with warm eyes but a frown.

"I don't know. I don't have any parents. Naruto found me wandering in the woods, bleeding. I was just a little kid and I didn't remember a thing. As far as we both know, I don't have family in any nation or village. Xentall lets her go and he stares at her with sorrow in his eyes, "Which means I can show my loyalty to any of my choosing."

"I'm sorry I—I didn't know." Riu hugs him and sighs.

"It's o.k.! You guys are basically my family now. We're comrades!" Konan places a hand on both of their heads with a warm smile.

"That's right Riu, which means we look out for each other." She then holds out her hand to Riu, "And I'd like to personally welcome you to Amegakure." Riu jumps onto Konan with her arms wrapped around her neck. Konan hugs her back and Kuro pats Riu's back.

"Welcome to the club!" He laughs. Riu releases her grip and looks at Xentall for recognition. Xentall glares at her with his arms crosses. A frown starts to form on her face but then Xentall laughs.

"It's just like Konan Sensei said; no one is of the Rain village so anyone can join!" He holds out his hand and she takes it and shakes furiously, "Welcome to the family—Riu Arashi of The Hidden Rain." He says with a chuckle.

"Well, now that we're all together." Konan says as she reaches for her pocket, "Time to use an old training method my sensei, Jiraiya, had us do on our first day of training." She holds up three small bells with red string attached to them, "But since I know the three of you will work well together this won't be a bonding exercise; hence the third bell." She ties all three of them to her belt and then adjusts her headband, "The three of you have to try and take these from me; each bell per person. If you don't have a bell by the end of the day—." She looks at Xentall and Kuro with an evil smirk, "It's all night drilling." Xentall and Kuro's eyes widen and jaws drop. Shivers get sent up their spines as they remember how hard she was on the drilling when they were punished for the snake incident.

"What do you mean by that?" Riu asks with her hand slightly raised. Konan leans close to her face with a smile.

"Let's hope you never find out." Riu then looks at the brothers who are about to break down in tears and shivers crawl up her spine; realizing that whatever it is, it can't be good, "Alright, the three of you split up! Give yourselves three minutes of breath and then come and find me." She raises her hand and they all get ready to jump away, "Your training starts—NOW!" She wings her arm down and her three students jump away in different directions, disappearing in a blink of an eye. She looks around and then sits where she's standing with a smirk, "Let's see how long it takes them to retrieve these." She chuckles to herself.

Xentall lands in a nearby tree and starts to freak out. He can't go a whole night of drilling! That night of the snake incident, he and Kuro only did it for a few hours and it almost killed them! He then hears leafs rustling and he looks to his far right and sees Riu waving him down. He jumps over to her and she's smiling.

"If the three of us go at her at once we'll overwhelm her! That means we'll each get a bell!" Xentall nods and jumps to the top of Riu's tree and scans the area, "Do you see Kuro?" Xentall then sees his brother waving him down from the other side of the river.

"Yeah, he's a few yards away, on the other side of the river!" Riu and Xentall then jump to his location and they all meet on a large branch.

"So what's the plan?" He asks as he starts to scratch his head, "Because I don't know about you two but I don't want to do drills all night!"

"Seriously, what's so bad about them?" Riu asks with shrugged shoulders. The brothers then look at her pure terror glued to their faces and she lets out a shaky sigh, "Alright then—well I was thinking that if the three of us attack her all at once, we'll overwhelm her."

"Well actually, my plan was just me and Xen go after her and you fend for yourself." Kuro says with a sheepish grin. Riu glares at him and he shrugs, "Sorry but I'm not doing drills tonight. Plus, Xen and I share a visual link so one of us can fight while the other hides someplace and scans the battlefield."

"That's brilliant!" Xentall yells as he slaps his brother's shoulder lightly, "So here's the plan—Kuro, you will be my eyes as Riu and I take her on. Riu, if you get a bell first just leave me and I'll eventually get mine. Then I'll retreat somewhere safe and Kuro; you jump out and I'll be your eyes!" Kuro and Riu nod in agreement and they all jump back towards the clearing where Konan is waiting.

"I didn't see her go anywhere when she sent us off so I'm guessing she's just waiting for us at the same place we started!" Kuro says as they jump through the trees.

Xentall and Riu jump into the clearing while Kuro lands on the ground and hides behind a bush. He then straightens his headband onto his forehead; revealing his Rinnegan. Xentall also straightens his headband right before he lands but he then gets dizzy and trips; falling on his face.

"Xen, are you o.k.?" Riu asks as she gets into her stance, facing Konan who stands up and gets into her stance as well. Xentall lifts his head up and sees himself lying on the ground.

"That's trippy." He mumbles to himself as he stands up and unsheathes his short sword, "Yeah I'm fine!"

"That didn't take you two very long." Konan chuckles as she slowly walks towards them; staying in her stance; the bells ringing lightly on her waist, "Come at me then!" Riu and Xentall charge at her; Xentall doing hand seals.

"Sword Art: Triple Blade Technique!" Two more short swords appear and he grabs one with his left hand and the other with his mouth. Riu jumps in air while holding her hands together. They then glow with blue chakra and she swings her right fist down at Konan. Konan does a backflip to doge; making Riu hit the ground and making a small crater and the ground to shake. Xentall jumps over Riu and swings the two swords downward at Konan. Paper then flies into Konan's hands; forming a spear. She swings upward, colliding with Xentall's swords and they're at a stalemate.

"Nice try!" Konan laughs with a smirk. Xentall then smiles through his third sword and he straightens it in his mouth. He extends his head forward and Konan ducks backwards. She lifts both of her legs and sweeps them to her right; trying to trip Xentall. But, Xentall sees this with his shared visual link and jumps up as well. Konan stares at him with wide eyes and he disconnects with her; seeing with his Rinnegan that Riu was right behind him. He jumps back to make a path for Riu in which she swings her left fist to hit Konan in the side but Konan spins sideways and slaps the back of Riu's head with her paper spear. Riu recovers and swings her elbow, which is now glowing with chakra as well. Konan ducks and swings her spear one-eighty to get Riu in her leg but Xentall blocks it with his right handed short sword. Riu then punches Konan in the stomach; sending her sliding backwards a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Got ya!" Riu cheers.

"Yes, you hit me but it's the bells you're after!" Konan says between breaths, "_She got me good. That hit knocked the wind right out of me! Her chakra concentration is astounding!" _Konan thinks to herself as she recovers. Riu then charges at her and starts to swing her fists. Konan dodges left to right and sometimes blocks them with her paper spear. She then sees Xentall coming from the right so she grabs Riu's left fist that was aiming for her waist and then swings her paper spear upwards to block Xentall. Xentall sees this so he jumps up; making the sword in his mouth collide with the paper spear. The momentum then causes him to swing over Konan and when he comes to her right side he can see the bells. He swings the sword in his left hand to try and cut one off but Konan manages to connect her foot with the side of his face; making him fly away. Riu then sweeps her right foot, making Konan trip on her left side. Riu reaches for one of the bells as Konan is in mid-fall, but Konan swings her paper spear to the right; colliding with her forearm and making her recoil.

"It feels like a whip!" Riu whines as she grips her forearm. Konan then catches herself with her left hand and swings both legs at Riu. Riu catches them and Konan's eyes widen as she swings her over her head and into the ground; making another small crater. Riu reaches for the bells and rips one off of her waist, "Got one!" She cheers in victory, "She's all yours!" She yells at Xentall as she salutes him and retreats to a safe distance. Xentall gets up with a groan.

"Damn it!" He throws all three short swords in the air and does hand seals, "Sword Art: Triple Lightning Storm!" Lightning then engulfs all three of the blades and Konan charges at him. The first short sword falls in front of Xentall and he punches the handle, sending it flying at Konan. She jumps over it but then Xentall holds up the Tiger Seal, "Release!" Lightning then erupts from the blade and it strikes her in the left leg. She falls to the ground and grabs her left side in pain. Xentall catches the other two as the third disappears and he runs at her; the other two still engulfed with lightning. He then stops and blocks two paper clones that fly at him with paper spears from each side, "Release!" The lightning then strikes the two clones; making them disappear as well as the second sword. Konan slowly recovers and when she stands up she sees Xentall holding up a bell.

"But how-? Of course!" She grumbles to herself, "_That lightning strike wasn't meant to wound me! It was meant to get one of the bells!_" She looks at her waist and sees only one more bell remaining, "I guess we wait for your brother to-

"Paper Style: Origami Prison!" Kuro yells as he jumps out from behind the bush. His entire left bust turns to paper and it grabs onto Konan's arms, locking themselves into the ground. She looks over and sees Kuro running towards her. Xentall then jumps back and keeps his sight on Kuro. Kuro trips from being dizzy; giving Konan enough time to escape, "We have got to learn to stop getting dizzy from that!" He mumbles to himself as the paper reforms his left side. Konan starts to do hand seals and both of her forearms turn into paper. Kuro starts to do hand seals as well while the sheets of paper turn into shurikens that fly at him.

"Origami Art: Bursting Shuriken!"

"Origami Art: Paper Shield!" Kuro's arms then from into a white shield and all the shurikens get stuck in it. He then sees writing on all of them and his eyes widen, "_She's mixed paper bombs with them!_" He then shoots all the paper from his shield at Konan, sending her paper bombs back her. Konan jumps away as her forearms reform and Kuro's arm also reforms. Riu joins Xentall's side and sighs.

"They both have the same style of jutsu?" She asks as they both watch them.

"Yeah, wasn't born with it. So I took up Kenjutsu." Xentall says, not taking his eyes off of them. Kuro then sees a paper clone with a spear running at him from behind so he forms his own paper spear and blocks it. He kicks the clone away; making it disappear. And, without even looking, he swings the spear over his head; blocking a punch from Konan. Hey eyes widen and she gasps as Kuro presses her out and swings a full three-sixty. She jumps back and starts to do hand seals. Kuro throws the paper spear at her, making her jump to the left.

"Origami Art: Shikigami Dance!" Konan then bursts into thousands of sheets of paper and forms a twister. Kuro starts doing hand seals and both of his arms turn into hundreds of sheets of paper.

"Origami Art: Blooming Cranes!" The papers fold into birds and fly at Konan. They then explode within the paper twister and Konan goes flying backwards through the smoke, her body slowly forming from burnt sheets of paper. As she starts to get up paper chains grab her arms and legs, locking her in place. Kuro lands on top of her and reaches down to grab a bell. Konan then head-butts him; both of their headbands colliding and it sends Kuro flying backwards. Konan breaks free of her restraints again and jumps up off the ground. Her legs form into paper they from large wings on her back.

"Shikigami Dance: Paper Storm!" Her wings flap forwards and then paper shoots out of with great speed. Kuro jumps back and keeps dodging; making the paper hit the ground and causing small tremors. Kuro does hand seals while jumping back and his entire body turns to sheets of paper. Konan stops her attack and floats high in the air, slowly spinning to see where Kuro will appear as his sheets of paper slowly spin around her.

"This is intense." Riu says as she shudders. Xentall scans the skies to see if there are any other paper clones or other defenses his mother has put up to counter Kuro. Konan then shudders and grabs her stomach in pain. Kuro's bust slowly emerges from her stomach.

"_Damn! I so focused on the paper he had spinning around me, I didn't even notice the ones that attached themselves to me!_" Kuro cracks a smile as his arm emerges from the paper around his mother's abdomen and he rips off the last bell from her waist. The paper then swirls towards Xentall and Riu and they slowly form Kuro. Xentall's already clapping but Riu doesn't know what's going on.

"Good job brother!"

"Wait, he got the last bell?" Kuro shows off the bell and Riu claps excitedly for him, "YAY! We did it!" Konan appears next to them with a warm smile but is also panting.

"Good job guys, you remind me so much of me and my squad when we were your age! We all got the bells from Jiraiya as well!" She places a hand on Kuro's head and pets it, "You're getting better at this sweetie. I'm proud of you." Kuro hugs his mother around the waist and Xentall does the same. She hugs them both and looks at Riu who is standing there with a wide grin. Konan pulls her in and hugs her too. Riu buries her face into her waist so she can hide her tears of joy.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 07

Just another Day in Konoha!

As Squad Four walks back into the village they can hear stores opening up and when they make it to the market; its pack with pedestrians. All the stores and restaurants are having sales and everyone has a smile on their face. Xentall looks around but no one is paying attention to them. It's almost like they fit in.

"What's with everyone? It's like New Year!" Kuro says as he clings to his mother for protection.

"Everyone is happy after The Ceremony! It makes them feel more at ease knowing that there's another generation of powerful Shinnobi protecting them." Riu says as she skips through the crowd, "You should've seen last year! The party went on for three days!"

"I don't care about a party! When will we be able to go on assassination missions? Or protect high valuable cargo?" Xentall says as he punches the air in front of him, "I'm so pumped I could take on a whole army of Shinnobi by myself!" Konan laughs and places a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

"Those are C and B Ranked missions Xen. We're a newly formed squad. We'll be starting off with E and D Ranked missions."

"WHAT?" Xentall and Kuro yell in unison

"That's so unfair! Naruto should know we're ready for High Rank missions!" Xentall says as he gets in everyone else's way to stop them, "We could totally do a High Rank mission!"

"I'm with Xen on this one mom. You said it yourself; we're powerful enough to be Chūnin!" Kuro says as he walks next to Xentall.

"But what about Riu?" Konan says as she wraps her arm around her shoulder, "Do you think she's ready for such missions?"

"Hell yeah, she is! You saw what she did during The Ceremony! You saw how good she was when we did that that little training exercise!" Xentall says as he stomps his foot on the ground. Riu looks down and blushes. She didn't know he thought so highly of her.

"I again agree with Xentall, her Taijutsu is very powerful; especially with her Chakra concentration." Kuro says as he rests his hands on his waists. Riu gives them a big smile and Konan sighs.

"Even if you guys were strong enough to take on such missions, it's not my choice. Naruto assigns the missions, not me." She continues to walk down the main market, towards the Monument; her squad close behind.

"Do you guys really think I'm strong enough for those types of missions?" Riu asks sheepishly, holding her hands behind her back.

"Of course! You saw how well we worked together on fighting my mom. And you were the first one to get a bell." Xentall says with a wide smile.

"And the way you slammed her into the ground? We could barely scratch her when she was training us back in the woods!" Kuro says with wide eyes, "In fact, today was probably the first time we actually beat her!" Xentall nods in agreement and Riu jumps with excitement.

"I can't wait to start doing missions with you guys!" They all laugh until Xentall bumps into someone; causing both of them to fall on their backs.

"What are ya, blind?" Viola yells as she rubs the side of her face. She then sees Xentall starting to get up and her skin crawls, "You?"

"You!" Xentall yells as they both walk up to each other; coming nose to nose.

"You best watch where you're going!" She growls through grit teeth.

"I'm not the one with the Sharingan! Aren't those eyes supposed to predict the future or something?" Xentall growls back as he gestures to her eyes with his middle and index finger, "Or do they only have one tomoe per eye?" He laughs as he crosses his arms. Viola grinds her teeth and stares down Xentall.

"I have two tomoe per eye!" She yells as she grabs Xentall by the shirt collar. Xentall garbs her shirt collar as well and they bang their heads together; their headbands colliding.

"Xen, I don't think this is a very good time to be picking a fight." Kuro says as he tries to walk in between them. Konan looks behind herself and sees Xentall and a young girl about to fight. She sighs and goes to stop them but and arm extends in front of her.

"It's o.k. Viola knows better than to get into a fight without knowing the circumstances." Karen coos as she walks beside Konan, "That your boy?"

"Yeah." She groans as she rubs her temple, "Everywhere I look he's getting into some sort of trouble."

"Yeah, same for my daughter. She's the one butting heads with your son." She sighs as she crosses her arms.

"Why do they hate each other if they don't even know each other?" Konan asks, crossing her arms as well, "Is it a feud between Dōjutsu? Is it because he and his brother destroyed your home-?"

"That's part of it—yeah. But in reality; she respects him." Karen chuckles as they start to yell in each other's faces.

"Ripple Eyed Freak!"

"Uchiha Weakling! At least my Rinnegan is complete!"

"At least I have the Sharingan in both eyes! You have to share yours with your quivering brother!"

"She respects him?"

"Yeah, she told me about him when she first saw him. But instead of showing it; she chose to make him her rival." Karen laughs as they bang their heads together again.

"That makes us stronger! No one can sneak up behind us if the other one is watching from afar! No blind spots!"

"Well I can predict your next move by the tiniest muscle tension! I can read you Chakra and know how much you have left!"

"I can absorb any Ninjutsu and convert it into Chakra! That means your weak Fire Style Ninjutsu can't do anything to me!" They glare into each other's eyes with pure hatred; tightening their grip around each other's shirt collars. You can practically see the electricity between them.

"At least I have a father!" Konan, Riu and Kuro's eyes widen. Xentall's veins around his eyes and forehead bulge through and a tear rolls down his cheek.

"O.k., that was too much!" Karen yells as she walks over to them, "Why don't you just tell-

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Xentall yells at the top of his lungs before punching her straight in the face, sending her flying back into a wall, "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" He yells as he runs at her. Konan intercepts him and gets him into a hold. Xentall starts cursing at her as she slowly gets up and wipes the blood off of her mouth. Karen picks her up and glares at her.

"I know—I went too far." She sighs as she rubs the side of her face. Karen grabs her arm and escorts her back to the Uchiha Villa while Konan continues to hold Xentall back.

"I'm going to kill you! Do you hear me? Next time we meet I'm going to shove my blade so far up your ass it'll come out of your neck!" Xentall yells as he kicks and struggles in his mom's brace, "Let go of me so I can kill her!" Konan bangs her head onto Xentall's, knocking him out.

"And there goes another day." Konan sighs as she slings Xentall onto her shoulder, "Riu, do you want us to walk you home are you o.k.?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Riu sighs as she jumps through the crowd.

"Come on Kuro, we're going home." Konan sighs as she takes his hand and leads him down the market and to the left where their home is, "Are you o.k. sweetie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He sighs as he keeps his head down, "You know if Xentall didn't throw that punch, I would've, right?" Konan nods in silence, "That was so uncalled for."

"That's what you get when two stubborn children fight." She sighs as she opens their door and instantly walks into Xentall's room to lay him down, "Hopefully he'll forget that happened and won't go looking for that girl."

"What's with those two? Every time they're near each other they look like they're ready to kill!" Kuro sighs as he slouches onto the couch, "I don't get it."

"None of us will, sweetheart." She says as she kisses his head, "So—what do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care." He groans as he stretches and lies down on the couch, "Surprise me."

"Alright. I'll go and see if Mrs. Uzumaki is done with her squad for the day; see if she'll tell me the recipe for those delicious dumplings. Then I'll go to the market and get something special for my two Genin." She says as she kisses his head again before walking back out the door, "Be sure he doesn't go looking for trouble, o.k.?" Kuro nods and she shuts the door behind her.

A groan can be heard from Xentall's room as he slowly wakes up and stumbles out the door. He's rubbing the back of his head in agony but the look of hatred still glued to his face. Kuro cocks his head towards him and raises his eyebrow in suspicion.

"If you keep making that face; it'll freeze like that." He sighs as he sits up on the couch.

"I'm going to kill that Uchiha bitch!" He grumbles as he stumbles toward the door; still disoriented from the hit on his head. Kuro rushes in front of him and places both hands on his chest.

"You're not going anywhere but back in your bed. Mom told me to keep you out of trouble so lay back down and cool off!" Kuro demands but also cowers; waiting for Xentall's reaction.

"Get out of my way! I'm older than you so that makes me the boss of you!" Hey yells as he shoves Kuro aside and grabs the door; his vision slowly clearing up.

"You're only older by two minutes! So it doesn't count-

"Shut up and help me kill her or get out of my way!"

"Why do you want to kill her so badly? She mocked us and our father, so what?"

"Well maybe you don't care, but I do! I guess I just love our dad more than you!" Kuro's eyes widen and he punches Xentall in the back of his neck, making him fall to his knees.

"I love our father. He gave us life and a gift; the Rinnegan! You have no right to say that! I would love to help you hunt Viola down but we're not murderers! We kill people who harm the people we love or to protect ourselves. The fact remains that our father is dead!" Xentall sits himself up and leans on the wall next to the door. Kuro knees down in front of him and places a finger on his headband, "Maybe, instead of hating everyone because they hate our father, you could protect them like our father did. The wounds he left on this village are deep and will never be forgotten. But what also won't be forgotten is that he sacrificed himself for them. So let's do what he did and protect the people like we're supposed to do as ninja." Kuro grabs his brother's hand and helps him up.

"Fine, but I still want to confront her. Nobody mocks my family without being punished." Kuro nods and opens the door.

"Lead the way." Xentall jumps out of the house and jumps towards the Villa. Kuro shuts the door and follows his brother.

When they arrive at the Villa everyone is celebrating; paper lanterns, beautiful Fire Jutsus going off like fireworks. They walk through the crowd slowly and see everyone is bearing the Sharingan. They see Sasuke standing on the sidelines with a wide smile on his face. They walk up to him and he waves at them.

"Hello! Congratulations on making Genin you two!"

"Is this a celebration for the Uchiha kids who graduated?" Kuro yells so Sasuke can hear them through all the commotion.

"No! One of the elders is about to be sacrificed!"

"WHAT?" Xentall and Kuro yell in unison with surprise and wide eyes.

"How could you be excited for that?" Kuro asks as he takes a step back.

"It's not what you think! Follow me to my tent so we can get some peace and quiet!" He leads them into his tent and they take a seat in front of his desk. He sits on the other side and sighs.

"So—why is an elder being sacrificed? And why is your entire clan celebrating it?"

"Have you heard of the Mangekyō Sharingan?" The brothers nod and he smiles, "Well, what most people don't know is that it's a gift, and a curse. The more you use it, the worse your vision gets until you go totally blind."

"So it's a double-edged sword?" Kuro asks as he leans back in his chair, "That kind of sucks." He sighs with a frown.

"Yes it did suck. But I made myself a promise when I was about your age. I promised myself that I would restore the Uchiha Clan! So—I did." He leans back in his chair with a wide smile, "The old way to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan was to kill someone very close to you."

"So how has it changed?" Xentall asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"All the elders, including my wife and I, have obtained the Mangekyō Sharingan the old way. But I made a law so that my Clan wouldn't be killing their families, when an elder reaches the age of ninety; they're eligible to give their Mangekyō Sharingan to a child who doesn't have it. But the child must have a fully matured Sharingan to obtain it."

"So how does this help the Clan?"

"When this happens the child obtains the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Meaning that no matter how much they use it, they won't go blind. Now I see those faces of yours and I can answer another question for you. No we do not force the elders to sacrifice themselves. They choose whether to do it or not. But, we do force them once they pass the age of ninety-five."

"Have you ever had to force an elder to sacrifice themselves?" Xentall asks with crossed arms.

"No, and I hope we never have to."

"But wait, how do they obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan if they do this ritual with only a normal, fully matured Sharingan?"

"The child chooses the elder he or she wishes to have and they get to know each other. Becoming friends and eventually loving each other like family. And when they pull the eyes out and kill the elder; they obtain their own Mangekyō Sharingan and then infuse the elder's with theirs' and obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan." A man enters the tent and then bows.

"We're ready Lord Sasuke." Sasuke stands up with a smile and stretches.

"Would you boys like to watch?" They both shrug and follow Sasuke to the center of the Villa where everyone has gathered in a large circle. A young man, probably eighteen years old, is standing next to an old woman who is keeping herself up with a large Uchiwa. Sasuke holds up his hands to quite the crowd. Xentall and Kuro push their way through to get a front row seat, "Welcome my fellow Uchiha! We are gathered here today, to celebrate another Ceremony!" The crowd cheers loudly and then Sasuke quiets them again, "Today, Gale Uchiha gains his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!" The crowd cheers again and Xentall covers his ears. Sasuke bows towards the two and they turn towards each other.

"I, Baki Uchiha, give Gale Uchiha my weapon." She gets on both of her knees and presents the large Uchiwa before him, "May it protect you like it has protected me in the battles to come." Gale takes the Uchiwa and lays it down behind him.

"Let it be known that although you die here today; you will never truly be dead!" He places his middle and index fingers on her upper eyelids and his thumbs on her lower eyelids, "For you shall live through me, Gale Uchiha, as I take your eyes. May you see the light through my eyes, and never know darkness." He then pushes forward on her eyes and they pop out with her screaming in pain. Kuro and Xentall shut their eyes tight and look away. Xentall slightly opens one eye and sees everyone bowing their heads. He then turns his head towards Gale and sees him holding up her eyes to his. His eyes start to bleed as the tomoe in his eyes spin into his own Mangekyō Sharingan and then Baki's slowly spin and disappear from his hands. His Mangekyō Sharingan then takes a new form that looks like a mixture of the two and he closes his right eye and stares at Baki who is on the floor, writhing in pain.

"Do it, Gale." Sasuke says with his head still down.

"Amaterasu!" Gale yells as his left eye starts to bleed and then Baki's body combusts into black fire. Her screaming stops shortly and her body is reduced to ash in seconds. Sasuke opens an urn and it sucks in her ashes. He then hands the urn to Gale and he grips it tightly.

"May this be a reminder of your fallen loved one. And may you always carry your Sharingan with pride!" Gale bows his head and everyone slowly lifts theirs', "Now, let us not mourn the loss of Baki Uchiha! But celebrate for her new life—through Gale!" Sasuke yells as he raises Gale's arm and everyone cheers and goes back to their festivities.

"I think I'm going to hurl!" Kuro says as he covers his mouth with both hands. Xentall grabs his stomach and closes his eyes tight.

"Me too." He gags. Sasuke laughs as he places a hand on each of their shoulders.

"So, what did you think?"

"That was totally sick! How can people be happy after something like that? I think I'm going to have nightmares!" Kuro says as his face turns pale.

"It's better than my entire Clan killing each other in cold blood." Sasuke says as he guides them away from the festival, "This ceremony saved my Clan." He looks at them with a warm smile, "So why are you two here?"

"We're looking for your daughter. She paid us a great insult to our father; an insult that can't go unpunished." Xentall says through grit teeth and clenched fists; suddenly remembering why they came. Sasuke sighs and leads them to a wide field with targets and practice dummies. They then see Viola training with her mother and Xentall almost sprints towards her but Sasuke grips his shoulder tightly.

"Listen to what she has to say first, and then do what you must. I understand your need to retaliate. But lend her your ears first." He sighs as he lets the brothers go and they walk towards her.

Karen points behind Viola and she turns around to see Xentall and Kuro walking towards them. A frown appears on her face and she turns to face her mother who has crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

"Go say what needs to be said. And whatever happens next; take it like a true Uchiha." She says sternly through breaths. Viola nods and slowly walks towards them with her head down. They stop a few feet from each other and Xentall holds Kuro back.

"I hit her first, let me hear what she has to say and if I need your help I will ask of it." Kuro nods with an angry glare in his eye as his brother walks up to Viola. Viola looks up and sees Xentall is only a few inches from her. She can feel the sting of their glares through her skin.

"Before you do anything—listen to what I have to say first." Xentall crosses his arms with a low growl and Viola looks down again and sighs; shifting her weight from one leg to the other and placing a hand on her hip, "I know what I said was wrong. I know what your father did and he should be a hero to the people of Konoha. I know you love him deeply and I'm sorry I have offended you and your family." She bows in front of Xentall with her hands on her knees and her long, black hair folding over her face, "I don't know the pain you must feel; not knowing your father. I don't know what I would do if my father were to die." She clenches her fists tightly and a tear rolls down her cheek, "I'm sorry this village curses and hates your family for their past deeds. I only hope that they now look to you with respect as you protect them." Xentall slowly uncrosses his arms and stares at Viola with a raised eyebrow.

"This is weird. I've never seen her like this. She's so—so vulnerable. And is she crying? I've only known her for a day or two and from what I know she's tough and prideful. Now she looks like a little school girl after a break-up." Xentall says to himself as he continues to stare at her.

"Can you forgive me?" She looks up slightly through her black hair as Xentall raises his fist. She looks back down and shuts her eyes tightly; gritting her teeth as she prepares for the blow. Xentall then lightly bumps the back of her head with his fist and her eyes shoot open in surprise. She slowly looks up and sees a small smile on Xentall.

"Maybe next time we fight, it'll only be because we have to." He holds out his fist with a wide smile and she smiles back as she bumps her fist on his. Kuro walks beside Xentall with a smile as well.

"I guess we're forgiving her?" He asks with both hands behind his back.

"It was just in the heat of the moment. Besides, it's not like we've never had a dad." Viola and Kuro cock their heads at Xentall and he just laughs, "Come on Kuro! We both know that mom has been both our mother and father our whole lives!" He chuckles as he slaps Kuro's back playfully, "Anyway we better get back home. Tell that Gale kid we said congratulations."

"I'm still going to have nightmares because of that." Viola laughs and Kuro frowns at her.

"They'll pass. Trust me, I would know." Kuro cracks a smile and Xentall punches Viola's shoulder playfully.

"I guess we'll see you later?" He says as he jumps away and heads towards home.

"I'll see you guys at the mission assignment tomorrow!" She yells as they both jump away. She waves goodbye and Karen wraps an arm around her shoulder.

"See? Was that so hard?" She asks as she kisses her head.

"No, but he's still my rival and I'll do everything in my power to surpass him!" She says with a wide smile as she looks up at her mother.

"Well let's go clean up and join the celebration, shall we?"

Xentall and Kuro make it back home before their mother and they lay back on the couch with a sigh. Kuro punches Xentall's shoulder and Xentall grips it in pain as Kuro laughs.

"What was that for?" He whines as he clutches his shoulder tightly.

"That's for backing out of a fight!" Xentall opens his mouth to protest but automatically shuts it and pouts. Their mother then walks in and looks at her children sitting on the couch.

"Have you two seriously been sitting there the whole time?" She asks as she places bags of groceries onto the table.

"Yup." They both say simultaneously. She smirks at them and they just give her wide grins.

"Well I ran into Shikamaru in the Market. We're to join the other squads and receive our first mission tomorrow morning. So, after dinner it's straight to bed." Xentall and Kuro groan and she just glares at them, "We're going to have dumpling soup with egg fried rice on the side." Xentall then grips his stomach as it growls like a starving beast. Konan just laughs and starts to cook while her sons remain on the couch; their mouths watering as their home is filled with the delicious promise of food.

"Our lives are going to get weirder now that we're living in Konoha now, huh?" Kuro asks his brother under his breath. Xentall lets out a large sigh as he kicks his feet up onto the coffee table and rests his hands behind his head.

"Probably. I just hope its more fun and action packed unlike today." Xentall yawns a tear inducing sigh.

"Today was just another day in Konoha, huh?" Kuro says as his follows his brother in relaxation.

"Yup; just another day in Konoha."


End file.
